Gauge: a mystery of knitting

Why is stitch gauge variable between knitters? It's a mystery of knitting encompassing many factors. Widely understood to have an influence are needle size, needle composition (material), tension in yarn supplied; and this post considers all these.  Yet, a factor equally important--if not more so--lies in the formation of the knit stitch itself. We'll start there. 

We can say there are two properties of a knit stitch: its width, and its height. In the simplest conception, width arises from the "tail" of the stitch ( red,  below) and height is measured from the "head" ( blue ) to the tail. 

The head is formed when your needle pulls through a loop, and the tail of the stitch when you move the formed loop along your knitting needle to get at the next loop. The tail here is shown split in half, but of course, the tail of one stitch butts against the next, making one continuous, shared, width. 

Tail or "'tweener strands" illustrated

Below is a photo-diagram of the edge of stockinette: this is a top view. The heads are not colorized, only the tails. 

Stockinette fabric, top view
"'tweener strands" of current row colorized red

As with the opening illustration, the tail is colorized   red.   Here, the tail is seen top-view with the purl side of the stockinette fabric in view. This little red tail connects one stitch to another along the row--in this case, the current row. Because this tail runs between stitches, we'll call it the 'tweener yarn. 

Why does tail yarn need a special name?  As it turns out, all 'tweener yarn is tail yarn, but not all tail yarn is 'tweener yarn.  As we go along in future posts, we'll need specific names for the different kinds.  So, to be specific, 'tweener yarn is that particular subset of tail yarn which connects stitches aligned in the same direction. Stated otherwise, 'tweener yarn connects adjacent stitches of the same kind (knit to knit, or purl to purl) along a row, as in stockinette.  (In a future post, we'll look at a different subset of tail-yarn which we'll give a different name, and that is the kind which connects different kinds of stitches: knit to purl or purl to knit.  When that post goes live, there will be a link placed here.) 

Here is a split-screen view of stockinette fabric, as seen from the front (knit) and back (purl) fabric faces, respectively.  Again, the 'tweener yarn of the current row is colorized   red. 

The most obvious difference between the two fabric faces is that the 'tweener yarn is unevenly distributed: far more appears on the back fabric face than the front. One consequence of this unbalanced distribution is behind the reason why stockinette curls so badly (discussed here).  But 'tweener yarn is also an important factor in gauge--our topic today.

Stitch gauge:  Differing lengths of 'tweener yarn supplied between individual stitches lead to differences in number of st/in.  In other words, it is the length of this little red strand laid down between stitches, which helps account for the difference in stitch gauge between two different knitters using the same yarn and the same needles. This makes intuitive sense because more distance between the stitches = fewer stitches per inch of fabric. 

Row gauge: The length of the 'tweener yarn is an important factor in STITCH gauge, but not the only factor in overall gauge-- there is also ROW gauge. 

In my analysis, it is the height of the stitches which adds a factor for difference in row gauge, and by height, I mean how tightly each loop of yarn conforms to the size of the barrel of the needle.  Once the stitch is off the needle, a stitch which lays looser around the needle barrel will lay taller in the fabric than a relatively tighter-wrapped stitch, so looser loops = taller fabric

Stitch + row gauge, theory: 

Putting together the two factors--length of 'tweener yarn + height of stitches--theory suggests...

4 samples, 4 different styles, 
same yarn, same number of rows & stitches,
same needles, same knitter

• WIDE: If you pull your yarn tight over the barrel (smaller, tighter stitches) but leave plenty of room between stitches (longer 'tweener strand) you'll have--relatively speaking--a wide-ish stitch gauge (more st/in) and a short-ish row gauge (fewer rows/in). I could get this to occur consistently by operating on the upcoming stitch very near the holding needle tip (left needle), but drawing the new stitch well back  onto the working needle tip (right needle).  This near-the-left-tip, far-from-right-tip method produced the "wide" swatch illustration.
• TALL: If your loop is loose over the barrel of the needle, but each loop is right up against the next loop (shorter 'tweener strand), then your row gauge appears relatively long (fewer rows/in) and your stitch gauge relatively narrow (more sts/in).  In my experiments, this style can result from stitch formation via drawing the two needle tips apart from one another like the arms of a scissors, with significant up and down motion between the needles, but the yarn held near both needle tips. I heavily "scissored" in knitting the tall sample. An alternative way of getting the same effect is by wrapping the stitch loosely, holding it somewhat open by tensioning the working (right) needle upwards, then giving a pretty good jerk to the running yarn.
• TIGHT: If your 'tweener strand is short and the height of the stitch short, you're a tight knitter (more st/in and more rows/in).  In my experiments this was accomplished by knitting at the tippy-toppy-tips of both needles, drawing the running yarn so tight to the barrel of the needle they would hardly slide, and, of course, by heavily tensioning the yarn at all times. 
• LOOSE: If your 'tweener yarn is long and the height of the stitch tall, you're a loose knitter (fewer sts/in, fewer rows/in).  This is how I usually knit.  Therefore, to get gauge, I have learned to drop needle size, usually two US sizes smaller than what is considered "standard."  For the below sample, I knit as loosely as possible, tensioned the yarn lightly, held each loop well away from the left and and right tips, drew a lot of yarn into each stitch and scissored each stitch wide open.

Another view. Wide (top L) and loose swatches (bottom L) are same width, but loose swatch is longer.  Tall (bottom R) and loose swatches are same height, but loose swatch is wider. 

 All these samples were knit using the same needles (Boye aluminum US size 5 dpn's) on the same day, by the same person (me), all 16 stitches and 20 rows, using yarn from the same ball of Patton's Roving.  I chose this yarn because it has very little twist and is airy.  Airy yarn like this which compresses but also fluffs up can be worked at many different gauges. Further, it is pure wool of a not-very-soft kind, and so, ultra-grabby. The only thing which varied between the samples was the height of the stitch, and the length of the tail yarn between the stitches--the 'tweener yarn. 

Now, theory is a very fine thing, but unless you're using an ultra-grabby yarn like mine, stitch height and 'tweener length aren't really in a fixed relationship.  Looking back at the structure of the stitch, you see that a stitch is a very fluid little creature. As yarn comes off the needles it is freed to wiggle around in the continuous and interconnected web which is knitted fabric. So, yarn can get pulled from the loop of the stitch into the tweener strand, or vice versa.

Via blocking, a taller stitch can simply become a wider stitch, just depending how the fabric is handled (when you block a fabric wide, it becomes shorter). Similarly, blocking can turn a wider fabric with more 'tweener yarn to become a taller fabric (blocking a fabric long makes it narrower). The more overall slack--whether in stitch height or 'tweener strand--then the more possible it is that in the blocking process, or even in just wearing the garment, the fabric can trade width for length and vice versa.  In other words, whether you made the stitches tall with a short length of tweener yarn, or you left a lot of 'tweener yarn stranded between the stitches but made the stitches tight, these variables don't matter as much as the overall amount of slack increases.  This factor is especially true if you are knitting in a slick yarn. 

In trading length for width, yarn slickness is huge.  Different yarns have different amounts of friction vs. slide.  The slicker the yarn, the easier the interchange between stitch height and tweener yarn length (And this is why it is so notoriously difficult to "get gauge" in  alpaca, acrylic, linen or silk, those slick and frictionless yarns.)  For my original cream colored samples, I chose high friction yarn which made it easy to show the relationship between stitch height and 'tweener yarn length.  But if you're knitting with a slick yarn, the story is completely different.  

The gold samples below are worked in some kind of acrylic yarn--the ball band went missing years ago. All I know is it is super slick (so slick, in fact, I usually use this yarn for COWYAK provisional cast-on: it slides out of the work perfectly). Both samples below were made within a few minutes of one another, with the same needles (those aluminum Boye size 5's again) same yarn, same hands. I knit both samples as I usually knit, which is loosely--long 'tweener yarn as well as tall stitches. The only construction difference is a few purl bumps on one so the two samples can be told apart. 

After the samples were knit, I didn't wet-block because blocking has no lasting effect on acrylic.  Instead, I simply tugged each sample repeatedly and strongly, in order to work the slack yarn either into the loop (tall) or into the 'tweener yarn (wide). The slick yarn simply slid around in the fabric, and here's the result stuck on a magnet board. Although both samples started off at the same size, tugging made the plain sample longer, and the bumped sample wider. 

Plain sample (L) tugged long, bumped sample (R) tugged wide

In this next photo, I left the plain sample alone, and tugged the bumped sample tall and long.  Now, both samples have the same length and width. 

Plain sample and bumped samples both pulled long

In the last iteration, I left the bumped sample long, but tugged the plain sample wide. This final experiment shows that tugging into a wide shape is not permanent in slick yarn

Plain sample (L) tugged wide, bumped sample (R) tugged long

These samples demo the influence of yarn friction (or in this case, lack of friction).  Given that gravity never sleeps, if I wanted to knit a sweater out of a slick yarn like this, I'd pull the swatch as long as possible, and measure gauge that way. That would better match the eventual lengthening of garment as it is worn over time. So, for alpaca, linen, cotton, acrylic, silk, and other similar fibers, consider tugging or blocking your swatches long to get the truer gauge. 

(And speaking of gravity, I might also add here that gravity affects ALL knitted garments to some extent, of whatever fiber they are worked.  So, if you're happy with a garment's current fit, do not store it hanging, no, not even on a wide-shouldered suit hanger.) 

Adding hardware to the analysis, adds more complications.  Needles play a role with needle size the most obvious influence. Bigger needles yield bigger loops and looser fabric, all other things held equal.  However, even among knitters using the same size needles and yarn, there is significant variation in fabric produced.  So, each knitter must learn by experience, her own correction from "standard."  As mentioned earlier, I generally start out swatching with two or even three sizes smaller needles than are recommended as standard on the yarn ball-band.

Needle material also plays a role. Grabby needles like wood or bamboo deliver more yarn per stitch; smoother needles, fewer, and this is true even when all these needles are the exact same size.  Yet, it's even more complicated than that, because while needle composition does strongly affect stitch height (amount of yarn grabbed into each loop) it does not strongly affect the length of the 'tweener strand or tail: the loop is made over the grabby needle, but the tail is created mainly in the frictionless air. So if you get stitch gauge, but you feel your row gauge is too long or too short, consider a switch to needles of the same size but a different composition--smoother or grabbier--as required to correct.

Finally yarn size has quite an effect.  In unitary fabric (non-lace), thinner yarn gets up to fewer overall tricks because there is inherently less slack in smaller stitches knit on smaller needles. The bulkier the yarn you work with, the better will be the result if the yarn is grabby and not slick. So, if I wanted to work a garment in alpaca or silk or a synthetic (slick) yarn, I'd choose a pattern calling for a lighter weight yarn, so there would be less yarn to wiggle around in the first place.  For a bulky garment, I'd choose a grabby yarn, giving gravity a bigger challenge to dragging the garment long.  

In lace fabric knit with a lightweight yarn, the situation is exactly reversed because lace has inherently loose gauge due to its open nature. The yarn-overs in lace would tend to slide into the fabric and disappear if knit in a slick yarn. A grabby yarn holds the lace pattern much better. For that reason, yarn with a mohair content is a dream for lace--the "halo" of mohair fibers are like tentacles holding open the yo's. Shetland-type wools are a popular choice for lace for the same reason: they aren't at all slick and hold the lace pattern with little slide. 

Changing your gauge

I think that changing your gauge by changing the motion of your hands is one of the hardest things to do in all of knitting.  The way that your hands form the loops--whether tall or tight to the needle--becomes an automatic process after just a short time knitting.  Similarly, the amount of yarn your hands play out between stitches--the length of the 'tweener yarn--also becomes automatic. 

I don't say it can't be done--it can, and I have known knitters who did.  So, if you want to try, it helps that you know what factors to look for: the height of the stitches, the length of the 'tweener yarn, and how you got to those factors. As per  above, these include how far the loop is from the tips of each needle at the time of stitch formation, the tension on the running yarn, whether your needles "scissor" the stitches wide open at the time of formation, and (especially for English-style knitters, perhaps) whether you give the running yarn a jerk after each stitch is seated on the right (holding) needle. 

If you absolutely want to have a whole fresh start which corrects the "automatic" tendencies of your hands, consider experimenting with a different style of knitting.  If you knit English, try continental.  If you knit continental, try English-style.  I expect that even with this fairly nuclear-type option, though, your hands will soon develop habits in this alternate style--new and different habits, but equally automatic after a short time. 

An easier and more accessible way to change your gauge is to mess around with the interplay between the other factors identified in this post.  

• If your swatches always lie, consider swatching and working your next project in a grabbier yarn--rustic wool, for one example, stays put once knit. Among synthetics, something with bumps, slubs, or other heavy texture would also have a better chance of staying truer to swatch gauge.

• If determined to work in a slick fiber, then, as stated above, a swatch tugged or blocked long is a more accurate approximation of the final result (and the longer the garment is, the more true this is). 

• If your final garment doesn't fit the way you would like, consider extreme blocking--remember than blocking can usually get fabric to trade height for width, at least somewhat. BTW? A high-end dry-cleaner can help with this too: they have commercial fabric-processing machines you simply don't have at home, especially steaming equipment. 

• Match yarn to project: in non-lace projects, save slick fibers for thinner yarns knit on smaller needles to reduce overall slack; prefer grabby yarns for heavier yarns to increase friction and decrease sliding around. In lace, the situation is reversed: although lace is typically knit with thin yarn, grabby yarns give the best result in holding the holes of lace patterns open. 

As far as stitch and row gauge go...

• If you get stitch gauge but your row gauge is too short (not enough rows) consider swatching with the same size needle, but a grabbier material like wood or bamboo, to drag more yarn into the height of each loop. 

• If you get stitch gauge, but your row gauge is too long (too many rows) consider swatching with a slicker needle--non-coated metal of some kind, perhaps anodized aluminum.

• If you get row gauge but not stitch gauge, consider changing needle size until your stitch gauge is correct, and then switching up your row gauge by changing needle material as above

• Or maybe, just don't worry too much about row gauge in the first place.  See, for top-down or bottom-up garments (which is most of them) row gauge is less important than stitch gauge, because you can always alter the pattern by adding or subtracting a few rows.  You can usually even fudge sleeve caps this way, too, after a few runs at it.  For side-to-side sweaters, though, row gauge is important!

'til next time

--TK

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Thanks to everyone who posted in an old 2008 Ravelry thread which really got my gears turning in thinking about gauge so many years ago, with a special thank you to Beanmama who started that thread, eightoclock who really ran with it and yarnspinner who dropped a crucial hint. 

The essential swatches

Many thanks also to the various knitters, who, over the years, contributed research swatches, labeled as to yarn & needle size and composition.  

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE (related links):

•  .Circular gauge swatches knit flat (back and forth on two needles)(February 4, 2011)
• .Gauge--a cautionary tale (August 3, 2007)
• .Gauge, ease and fashion--or "why doesn't my sweater fit?" (January 23, 2007)
• .Gauge swatches, keeping track with knots (May 28, 2007)
  
• .Gauge-less gauge swatches or "dating tips for knitters" (February 6, 2007)
• .Knitting needles, different points (December 12, 2006)
• .Knitting needles and loop size: the stitch and the needle it rode in on(February 2, 2007)
• .Tightening garments after they are made: inisible afterthought smocking: a useful (and mysterious!) trick (September 6, 2014)
• .My hat is too loose... (May 12, 2011)
• .My sweater is too wide... (May 6, 2011)
• .My sweater is too tight under the arms, or at the chest/bust--the magic of gussets (May 9, 2011)
• .Uneven knitting part 1:how to tame knit and purl at different tensions (February 22, 2007)
• .Uneven knitting part 2: bunching, big stitches and lumpy fabric--the problem of too-long runs (January 12, 2010)
• .Why block hand knits? Here's why--and how! (March 13, 2008)

Fake I cord bind off (FICBO)--Quick and easy, sturdy and handsome

featuring a video and lots of illustrations

Why another bind-off?

How about a Fake I-Cord Bind Off (FICBO for short) which looks a lot like the real thing?   Here it is on the sleeve of a doggie sweater. What do you think?

This bind off is a fake copy, yes, but more than that, it is a thing which is good in itself. It is quick, easy to do, and handsome. Its resemblance to I-cord is a plus, but not the only plus. 

Easier to finish off: Unlike real I-cord, a single duplicate stitch at the end is all the finishing required. 

Faster: FICBO involves no slipping back and forth.

Extremely sturdy: Unlike real I-cord bind off which can potentially unravel back to the fabric, FICBO  pretty much can't. Each "row" essentially adds an additional bind off.  For kids pulling on that second mitten with their teeth, for the new puppy chewing its little coat, this is the bind-off to choose.  

Corrects the wavy edge in ribbing:  Here's the ordinary chain bind off on the ribbed edge of a green hat.  In the following photo, there's the edging in process: the scraggly original bind off (lower left) is instantly corrected from wavy to straight and smooth. 

The wavy original edge...

...being corrected with FICBO

* * *

Let's start with a little video.  After the video, a post with illustrations and descriptions goes into deeper detail, if you want.  The method for ending FICBO is not shown in the video, so you'll have to go to the text below for that (Step 7). 

Video https://youtu.be/7j2w5l0KPT4

* * *

What IS this bind off and how does it work?

As shown in the video, fake I-cord bind off isn't actually knitting at all: it's crocheting.  However, (and despite the fact that you use knitting needles to do it) an ordinary chain bind off in knitting is ALSO crocheting! Specifically, chain bind off in knitting is nothing more than a chain of crocheted slip stitch. Yes, one is done with a knitting needle and the other with a crochet hook, so it might not seem that way.  Yet in structure, they are identical.

If not familiar with the crocheted slip stitch, the how-to details are in this TECHknitting post (crocheting for knitters).

The fact is, by working an ordinary chain bind-off, you've already worked the first row of today's trick! All this trick does is add one or two additional rounds of slip stitch.

The heart of the trick is this: each slip stitch looks * exactly * like a stockinette stitch, from the front, at any rate.  So, by lining up three rounds--with each stitch exactly below the one above--you get the same look as a three-row I-cord.  You can make 2-round analog I-cords, also.

Note the use of the words "rounds" and "from the front."  If you want this trick to look like an I-cord, that really only works to bind off circular knitting, and this is true regardless of whether the item is 3-D, such as the brim of a top-down hat, or flat, such as around the continuous edge of a flat piece like a circular shawl.  This is because, again, only the front of the slip stitch looks like stockinette stitch--the back of a slip crochet stitch looks like a sewn running stitch, rather than the nice plump round dot made by a purl head.  Therefore, if you have to "turn the work" as, for example, to go back and forth along the bottom of a flat knit piece, the illusion does not hold.  It's still a pretty good bind off when used back-and-forth, but it's not I-cord adjacent in that use.

(Hat)

In the video, and in below examples, I am binding off hats.  Further along in this series, TECHknitting blog will have a free bonus pattern for these hats: a link will be placed here when that post goes live.  For this post, we are only concentrating on the finishing, featuring the FICBO. 

How-to do the Fake I-cord bind off in 7 steps

Step 1: Work an ordinary chain bind off, all the way around the piece. If the fabric you're binding off was worked with both knit and purl stitches, then work in pattern as you bind off.  In the photo below, I am binding off a hat which ends with a dark green stripe, and I am using lighter green yarn as the bind-off yarn. 

Ordinary chain bind off in progress
at the edge of a green ribbed hat

"Bind off in pattern" means, for example, if you were working a ribbing, then, as you bind off, you'd knit the knits and purl the purls, as you work the bind off round.  In other words, you work each stitch in the pattern required, just before you bound that stitch off by dropping the loop of the preceding stitch over it, chain-wise, in the bind-off process.  If this is confusing have a look again at the TECHknitting post on ordinary chain bind off in knitting.

HOWEVER... a little trick! If your fabric is a 2/2 ribbing (k2, p2) then you may wish to consider binding off not QUITE "in pattern," by which I mean: 

    K1, bind off, K1, bind off, P2tog, bind off (two purl stitches bound off as 1).  

The sample hat was bound off as above: 3 bind off chains for every 4 stitches. Like all simple chain binding off of a ribbing, the edge will continue ruffled after binding off, however eliminating 25% of the stitches (1 in 4) helps prevent excessive ruffling at the edge. All bind offs should be fairly loose, but when using this stitch-elimination trick, even a bit looser. 

Step 2: When only the last loop remains from the bind-off process, our trick begins.  Place that loop onto a crochet hook as shown below.  Do not break off the running yarn. Note that the next "stitch" at the top of the hat has already been bound off--it was the first stitch worked at the beginning of the bind-off process. 

Insert crochet hook into the
last loop of the chain bind off

Step 3: (below) Tension the running yarn as for crocheting.  Insert the crochet needle under BOTH arms of the chain bind off stitch.  Once the hook is through, catch the running yarn under the hook of the needle. 

The hook is inserted under both arms of the
chain bind off, that being the first
stitch worked at the beginning of the 
bind off process

Step 4: After catching the running yarn under the hook of the crochet needle, drag the resulting loop towards you, and out from under the two arms of the chain bind off, bringing it onto the surface of the knitted fabric.  Per illustration below, there will now be TWO loops around the barrel of the crochet hook.

Yarn drawn through, new and old loop
around the barrel of the crochet hook

Step 5: working LOOSELY, draw the new loop (closest to the hook) through the old loop laying further down (further way from the hook) on your crochet needle. There will again be only one loop on your crochet hook. 

After drawing the new loop through the old loop,
only the new loop remains

Repeat steps 3, 4 and 5 all the way around the garment. 

Step 6:  When you come back to where you started (and if you want the look of a three-stitch I-cord) then for the next round, insert your hook under the two arms of the corresponding slip stitch in the round you just made. If a two-round I-cord analog is enough for you, skip this step and go to step 7.  The sample was worked with three rounds. 

Step 7: ending the fake I-cord via duplicate stitch, as follows:

A. Draw the last loop up big, then cut the loop in the middle

Almost done...draw up the last loop big and cut in the middle

B. Remove the running yarn, leaving the cut end protruding from the last stitch of the last round.  The stitch FROM which the yarn protrudes, and the stitch AHEAD of it on the previous round are the two stitches on which we'll now operate. 

C. Thread the cut end onto a BLUNT ended sewing needle.  As shown in the illustration below, run the needle tip under BOTH arms of the chain ahead, being the chain which began the previous round.  Next, pull the needle through.  Finally, insert the needle along the path of the white arrow, into the last stitch of this round, being the highlighted stitch in the illustration below, FROM which the cut yarn protrudes.  Note that in this last maneuver, the needle comes "up from under," not "down from the top."  

The path of the final duplicate stitch

D. Work the end into the fabric.  Wear garment. (The pattern for this hat will be posted eventually...stay tuned.)

FICBO in the wild

BTW? If the duplicate stitch photos aren't doing it for you, have a look at this post with tricks for the last stitch in chain bind off (remembering that both the chain bind-off and the FICBO slip stitch share identical structure). Scroll to the "OK method."

Work looser!

Once more time! LOOSE!! If you put this edging on tight you're going to say bad things about this trick. Draw up a generous loop each.and.every.time and you will say good things, instead. 

When to use, when to avoid

As mentioned above, this edge can take it for utility items: a child's mitten, a birdwatching cap, or ... the cuffs on that doggie sweater which opened this post!  

Another FICBO in the wild.
More info on this project at Ravelry

Yet there is a downside. FICBO's stiff edge could be uncomfortable to sit or lay on.  Use a softer edge at the bottom edge of a long office-type sweater: a hard little cord under the backs of your legs all day might raise a welt. For an infant who lies all day, or for anyone wheelchair-bound, or with poor circulation, also use a softer bind off.  Save FICBO for the outdoor gear or kids' knitwear.

Til next time, TK

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE: RELATED POSTS

• .Basic crocheting for knitters: chain stitch (ch. st.) Slip stitch (sl. st.) and single crochet (sc) (September 20, 2014)
• .Pinstriping: vertical columns of color, added after the knitting is finished (January 14, 2016)(includes VIDEO)
• .A neat little chain stitched edging for garter stitch selvedges (January 14, 2011)
• .(Real) I-cord bind-off, I-cord selvedge border (November 24, 2105)
• .Part 1 of better bands and cuffs: the overview--"Opera and Soap Opera" (November 1, 2007)
• .Chain bind off, part 1--along a straight edge (December 24, 2008)
• .Chain bind off, part 3: binding off circular knits (March 3, 2009)(Another explanation about how to do the final duplicate stitch: scroll to the "OK method.")
• .Easy fake tubular bind off: casting off 1/1 ribbing a new way (April 1, 2007)
• .Fake Latvian Braid, deco bind-off version, perfect for scrap projects (October 30, 2014)
• .Picking up stitches along a bound-off edge (December 1, 2015)

TECHknitting blog returns

In protest at what Donald Trump represents, this blog went mostly dark for 4 long years.  "All-me, I-got-mine."  What (un)reality twists such selfishness into "greatness?" It was too depressing for words. 

Literally. 

With the installation of our new president, we--the blog and I--are back.  Older and sadder, but back. In the hope that normalcy can return after four truly awful years, this blog is being revived.  

TECHknitting is, indeed, a knitting blog, and with revival, I mean to return to knitting topics.  However, I thought a four year absence required an explanation.  

* * *

In the next posts, there will be knitting tricks and tips, just like the old days...sort of.  It's not going to be daily, or probably even weekly, but the occasional post will be forthcoming, so stay tuned...we're back. 

* * *

In the meanwhile, let us hope for better.  Let us hope and pray that the evil of selfishness--ignorantly paraded as a virtue over these these last four years--will slink off noiselessly, returning to the depths from which it was so.very.wrongly called forth. 

And if you voted for Donald Trump, once, or even twice, well, sister: please! Put behind you the fears by which you allowed yourself to be misled in the long night just past. Resolve to think more generously, to embrace otherness. Then, come out and join the rest of us. As President Biden just said, "light, not darkness." We are waiting for you, out here in the daylight. 

--TK

Corrugated ribbing tricks and tips

Corrugated ribbing looks like a very fancy kind of ribbing and it's knitted like a fancy kind of ribbing, but doesn't act much like a ribbing at all.

Front and back of a simple 2-color corrugated 1/1 ribbing. 15 columns are shown: 8 knits, 7 purls.

Admittedly gorgeous, corrugated ribbing is certainly traditional for certain kinds of Fair-Isle knitting. Yet, structurally speaking, corrugated ribbing is a rather poor choice at a garment edge.  It also has certain other peculiarities which can detract from its overall appearance.

Today's post starts out with a background on the problem, then turns to some tricks and tips you may find useful in designing or knitting with corrugated knitting.

The DIFFERENCE between CORRUGATED RIBBING and ORDINARY RIBBING

Ordinary ribbing, knit in the same yarn, and a far LOOSER gauge than above corrugated sample.  Like the opening photo, this close-up also shows a piece 15 columns wide: 8 knit and 7 (hidden on the back!) purl columns.  Note how much narrower this sample is than the previous--this is because ordinary ribbing such as this "draws in."

Ordinary ribbing is a highly three-dimensional fabric with a great deal of "reserve stretch" built into the fabric.  Corrugated ribbing is the opposite: non-stretchy, it does not "draw in."  Ordinary ribbing helps garments cling around cuffs and bottom-bands.  Corrugated ribbing does not cling at all. So, why is corrugated ribbing called "ribbing" at all?

Similarities: 
Structurally,  the basic idea behind corrugated ribbing is alternating columns of knits and purls, so in its manner of construction, corrugated ribbing does resemble ordinary ribbing.  Also similar to ordinary ribbing, corrugated ribbing can be worked in various arrangements of knit and purl columns: 1/1, 2/2, 2/1,* etc.

Differences:
However, although they are knit similarly, the two fabrics have very different types of structure, and this is because of color-knitting.  You see, ordinary ribbing is one-color knitting, but corrugated ribbing is a form of two-color knitting.

Two-color knitting requires the color not in use to be "carried" or "floated" across the fabric back.  It is all those floats back there which stop corrugated ribbing from stretching when pulled.  The upshot is that ordinary ribbing--well known as a stretchy fabric--becomes a firmer fabric when knit as two-color corrugated ribbing.

Although the two photos above show the ordinary ribbing to be narrower, this is true only when the two fabrics are at rest. The surprising fact is, the corrugated ribbing is actually the narrower fabric overall.  When stretched, ordinary ribbing can become MUCH wider than corrugated ribbing, despite the opposite being true when both fabrics are at rest. Again, this is due to the "reserve stretch" built into the ordinary ribbing, which is absent from the corrugated ribbing.

Another key structural difference between corrugated ribbing and ordinary ribbing is that ordinary ribbing is a non-curling fabric.  Recall that fabrics featuring a distribution of knit and purl stitches on each fabric face (so called "reversible" fabrics) do not curl. In fact, even if the distribution is as low as 75% one kind of stitch to 25% of the other kind, the fabric is essentially curl-free.  Ribbing meets this definition by its alternating columns of knits and purls, and even a 3/1 ribbing will not curl.  However, despite the fact that corrugated ribbing is worked up in alternating columns of knits and purls, adding the floats from two-color knitting into the mix upsets the reversible nature of the fabric.  In other words, the floats on the back unbalance the fabric.  Result?  Corrugated ribbing can curl and flip and get up to all the miserable little tricks that stockinette fabric does.

property	ribbing	corrugated ribbing
configuration: possibility for  different configurations (1/1, 2/1 etc)	✓	✓
advantage: stretches, “draws in”	✓	✗
problems: flips up, curls up	✗	✓
beauty of appearance: 2-color	✗	✓

Above is a chart summarizing the similarities and differences.  Below, I address the issues raised.

STRETCH and NUMBER of STITCHES to CAST ON

Because ribbing stretches and corrugated ribbing does not, you must knit corrugated ribbing to different rules than ordinary ribbing.

Specifically, ordinary ribbing is generally worked on fewer stitches than the main body of the garment, and using smaller needles.  By contrast, corrugated ribbing is generally worked on the same number of stitches as the main body of the garment, and using the same sized needles.  Failure to make this adjustment will result in tight, unpopular  sweater bands.

METHOD of CAST-ON

Problem 1:
Corrugated ribbing is quite firm.  Casting on for a firm fabric is quite the trick.  Too loose and you get flare, too tight and you get puckers. Plus, a tight cast-on--with the yarn held under constant stress--wears out oh so much faster than it should.  (I think wear-through from a too-tight cast-on/off probably spells the end to more high-use sweaters than any other problem, including outgrowing them or wearing out the elbows.)

Problem 2:
While ordinary ribbing does not flip or curl,  corrugated ribbing tends to. Sometimes, this leads to peek-out, where the back face of the fabric, with all its floats, peeks out at the bottom of that gorgeous Fair-Isle sweater you knit.

The solution I propose solves both problems by separating the edge of the fabric (where the structural problems lie) from the edge of the garment--where you want your corrugated ribbing to appear in all its glory. TECHknitting blog already features a whole post on separating the edge of the fabric from the edge of the garment, so I won't go into all that again here, but all boiled down, my advice is threefold:

1. cast on in any manner you like, somewhat loosely.
2. Knit several rounds (3-5, or even more, depending on taste) in stockinette.  This not only creates a sturdy rolled edge, but it also hides the cast on. 
3. Above the rolled edge, knit two or three rounds in main color, working in the ribbing which corresponds to your proposed corrugated ribbing.  (1/1 ribbing if you'll be knitting 1/1 corrugated, 2/2 if 2/2, etc)

The result is, the corrugated ribbing--not well suited to be a fabric edge--gets bordered with a structurally correct edge: a garment-edge which can take wear, yet will not flip, flare or bind. Furthermore, this bottom edge is much shorter than the number of rows suggests, because the rolled edge curls up to hide the few rows of main-color ribbing.  The effect is to create a short textured frame in main color, laying just below the start of the corrugated ribbing. Here's another view of the opening photo with its rolled edge

Just as a picture frame does not hide the bottom of the painting, but rather, sets it off, so a frame of main color does not hide that the "visual bottom" of the garment is the corrugated ribbing itself. Also by this trick, the floats on the back are so far up and in from the garment edge, that they will never peek out from the bottom, either.  

If you do not care for the look of a rolled edge, you can achieve many of these aims by simply casting on and working a few rounds in main color ribbing before beginning the corrugated ribbing.  However, you then may find that the flip wants to occur at the border of the ribbing and the corrugated ribbing, so consider using the transition zone trick to help mitigate. Swatch first, of course.

WORKING PURLS AND KNITS IN TWO-COLOR KNITTING
Multiple pass knitting as an option

Corrugated ribbing resembles ordinary ribbing in this at least: it is created by working alternating columns of knits and purls.  Corrugated ribbing is also a form of two-color knitting, so you must control two separate yarns, applying each to the correct column. I believe two-color knitting goes fastest and works easiest when you hold one color in each hand.

However, even if you are perfectly at home knitting stockinette in two colors, you may find that alternating knits and purls with one color in each hand is not that much fun.  If so, I have a trick that will let you apply only one color at a time, making it much more feasible to work corrugated knitting in front of the TV, for example, or on your daily bus-commute. This trick is called "multiple-pass color knitting"

Multiple-pass knitting
The link above takes you to a whole post about how to work multiple pass color knitting, so I won't repeat all that.  The short version is, you work one yarn at a time, IGNORING the stitches worked in the other color.  This requires you to go through each round TWICE, first working in one color, then the other. How you do this is, you slip out of your way the stitches you're ignoring, without operating upon them, and work only the stitches in the same color as your yarn.

Example: in a black garment with colorful corrugations, you might work the black yarn in the first pass, knitting or purling it as your pattern requires.  Each time you come to a non-black stitch, you hold the black yarn to the back, then simply slip the non-black stitch from the left (holding) needle to the right needle without changing the stitch orientation. In this manner you go around, working the black yarn until you finish the round.  Naturally, the round is only half-done, and you now go back for the second half of the round, working the other color yarn as required and slipping the black yarn.

Note that if you choose to do this trick, you should always work the same yarn first--in our example, the black one.  Otherwise, the fabric gets subtle but odd stripes where the "other yarn" broke pattern and went first. Also, don't stop at the half-way point: make it a rule for yourself that you have to do BOTH passes through the fabric before quitting for the night.

Note also that ALL color knitting can be done this way, not just corrugated ribbing, and that you're not limited to two colors: you can pass through as many times as you like, with as many colors as you want (although, of course, your fabric back will become very thick from all the floats).

BLIPS ("ICKY DOTS")

Some people (myself among them) do not care for the look of the contrasting-color dot which occurs when purling in the first row of a color change.  I have called these blips "icky dots," and wrote a whole blog post about how to avoid them. However, tastes differ,  and in all things, it is "knitter's choice."  (And, even I must admit that sometimes, blips can be a beautiful design element**)

Below is a corrugated ribbing knit with a color change in every row, where the corrugations appear in the colorful columns.  Specifically, the ribbing is 1/1, the color changes are worked every row, the colored columns are the purled ones, while the black columns are the knit ones.  Have a look and you will see what I mean by "blips" (icky dots).

"Blipped" ("icky dot") corrugated, where every row in the colorful columns is worked as a different color, as a purled stitch

To my eyes, working every colorful row as a purl stitch in corrugated ribbing, as in the above examples, makes for a rather muddy transition.  Yet, I must admit that I've knit a sort of worst-case scenario.  For one thing, the colors transitioning here contain strong contrasts. Colors more closely related would look better blipped together like this.  Also, if there were more than one row of each color, the transitions would be a lower proportion of the overall work, which would mitigate the effect somewhat. Swatch, swatch, swatch, and see for yourself how YOU like the blips arising from purling every colorful row in a corrugated ribbing.

If you decide you don't mind the blips, no need to read further in today's post.  However, if you wish to AVOID blips, then read on--below are three tricks to do so.

__________

Recall that the whole problem with contrasting color blips (icky dots) is caused when purling in a new row of a color change.  The act of purling drags up into the current row, the "head" of the stitch in the row below.  These little stitch-heads positioned next to one another along the row are the "icky dots."  Therefore, one cure is to avoid purling on the first row of a color change.  There are three ways of effecting this, each considered below.

Trick #1: Work the purl columns in the main color, instead of in the contrast color. 
If you reverse the usual order of the corrugations by working the "purl columns" in the main color, and the color-change columns in knit stitches, the purl stitches are always in the SAME color (the main color) so there is no opportunity for blip-formation.  Meanwhile, the color-change columns are in knit stitches, which do not form blips. Therefore, you can change the colors in the color-change columns as often as every single row, if you like, and there will never be a problem with blips.  This was done in the opening photo (first photo of post).  Below is an additional example.

The black columns (main color columns) separating the colorful columns are worked in purl, and in this way, the over all "corrugated" texture is preserved, yet the colorful columns, being knit, show no "blips" ("icky dots").  Compare this photo to the previous.

For a further example of corrugation in the main color columns, here is a link to a beautifully-knit corrugated 2/2 ribbing with frequent color changes, where the knitter worked the main color (black) as the purl stitches, and the colored stitches as the knit ones. BTW? the linked picture comes from Feral Knitter's blog whose post about corrugated ribbing shows some other lovely experiments in this same mode. (She's got a book about Fair Isle knitting out too.)

Trick #2: When working in two colors only
If you knit corrugated ribbing in two colors only--one main color, and one contrasting color AND if the corrugations (purls) are in the contrasting color columns, then the blips would only show at the top and bottom of the contrasting color columns, as shown in this linked sample. The cure is simple: in the first of the corrugation-rows and the first row of the knitting ABOVE the end of the corrugation-columns, work every stitch so it appears as a knit stitch on the front fabric face. No purling, no blip.

Trick #3: Two rounds high (my favorite trick)
If you want to work in many colors with the corrugations in the colored columns, but want to avoid the blip, use this trick: work the purl columns so that each color is two rounds high, the first round knit, the second purled.  In this way, when the act of purling pulls the head of the underlying stitch into the current row, it makes no blip because the underlying row is the same color. Stated otherwise, make each "row" of corrugated color actually TWO rounds high, knitting the first round and purling the second round. Below are two examples--compare these to the "blipped" corrugated shown earlier, and also to the sample where the corrugations are in the main-color columns. 

Two examples of 2-row-high "blipless" corrugated, worked as described in the text.  Note also the rolled edge evident on the white sample.

This 2-round high trick is my favorite, and I use it almost exclusively when knitting multiple colors in corrugated ribbing.  This is partly because I think the corrugations look more impressive when worked in the colors, rather than the main color; partly because I like the "centered" look when each color is worked 2-rounds high with a little texture dot right in the middle of each little color-square; and partly because I am lazy. 

You see, this two-row-high trick makes working corrugated knitting easier, because the net effect is to reduce purling to a mere 25% of your total fabric. Also, if you were working the multiple pass knitting method mentioned above in a bid to avoid two-color purling, you'd only have to slip once out of every two rounds, instead of every round. This 75%-25% ratio would also make this the easiest modification of corrugated ribbing to knit flat (back and forth).

Have fun with this--
--TK


Addendum, Dec 22 2016: Juliane L. wrote me via Hotmail (address in R sidebar) to say the following:

Here's something you made me realize: with multipass knitting for corrugated rib in the round, you don't need to purl ever. Just do the knit-color round as normal, and the purl-color round in the other direction, looking at the inside, and slipping with yarn in front.

The knit stitch, yarn in front alternation still makes you switch the yarn from front to back, so this is probably useless for yarn-in-the-right knitters, but for continental, it works great. I do rounds on two circs, and there you only have to pick up a new needle as often as for one single-pass round, not as for two: at the end of the knit-color round, just turn the needle to begin the purl-color round and vice versa.

Only trouble is to keep the yarn from the resting ball from getting trapped where it shouldn't while changing needles.

Thank you for writing, Jule, this is a wonderful idea.  It made me slap my head and say "of course!"  Best regards, TK
____________________________ 

*1/1, 2/2 and similar notation is a shorthand for describing ribbing, and here is the key. Assuming you are working in circular knitting...

• 1/1= on an even number of stitches, k1, p1 every round 
• 2/2 = on a multiple of 4 stitches, k2, p2 every round 
• 2/1= on a multiple of three stitches, k2, p1 every round

and so on...

____________________________

** The linked photo is to a sweater knit in "bohus" style, which cleverly uses purl blips to set off the gorgeous color designs. 

Fastening long floats for invisible stranding--alternatives to the STUART ladderback

Invisible stranding in color knitting via ladderbacks has been the topic recently.

• First, an intro to the STUART ladderback method
• Next, an (adorable!) skeleton hat showing STUART in action
• Then, in the previous post, a hot water bottle cover featuring a modification: using pinstripes to firmly fasten down the floats of a long ladderback, row-by-row.

Today's post goes shows alternatives to STUART. STUART regulates tension: it's a way of breaking up long floats by temporarily parking them on the fabric face. But, if you are an expert knitter (or just a bold one) you could simply knit super-long floats without any tension-regulation help, then tack down your super-long floats afterward, as part of the finishing process.

Today's post does not talk about how to KNIT those floats--it simply shows you three methods for TACKING DOWN those long floats as part of the finishing process.

Alternative #1:  TACKING also called FREE-FORM PINSTRIPE

(column-in-a-column, similar to the quilter's trick of "stitch in the ditch")

The previous post combined STUART with  pinstripes : it showed the catchment column re-hooked as a PURL column, and then a pinstripe was worked up this purl column to tack the long float in place, row-by-row.

However, It is actually possible to work a "free-form pinstripe" right up the middle of a KNIT column, and use that to catch the floats on every row. Despite that pinstripes are ordinarily worked into a purl column, a purl column is not actually required. Instead, you can work a pinstripe in a different way--worked right through an knit column--and tack long floats in that manner.Working a pinstripe through a knit column is called "tacking,"or "free-form pinstripe." It is the knitter's analog to the quilter's trick of "stitch in the ditch."

Here is a diagram of what is going on.

tacking, also called free-form pinstriping, in action

Here's a close-up of what's going on:

close-up of tacking

The blue stars point at the blue-dotted stretches: these are the running yarn behind the slip stitches.  It is these running yarns which hold the floats (red) against the back surface of the fabric. Naturally, the slip stitches and the background stitches would be the same color in real life (photo below). I just drew the slip stitches white and the background stitches gray so you could see what is going on.

Below is a photo of this process in real life, using tacking yarn of the same weight as the background stitches. 

Column-in-a-column free-form pinstriping, in real life. Blue colorization highlights left arms of the original stitch, green highlights right arms, red highlights the free-form pinstripe-tacking

You can see the white free-form pinstripe forming a column-in-a-column on the fabric surface. The original knit column is split in half by the tacking.  The left arm of the original column (colorized blue) frames the centered free-form pinstripe (colorized red) while the right arm of the original column (colorized green) frames the right. The bottom part of the photo shows the free-form pinstripe in its un-colorized state: it's subtle, even on extreme closeup.

Here's the back view. The white free-form pinstripe tacks the long floats (black) to the back surface of the fabric on every row.

The white column-in-a-column free-form pinstripe, as seen from the back, used to tack down long black floats on a white background

Are you concerned that this column-in-a-column tacking will show or be bulky? If worked in a thick yarn, as here, I'm not going to lie, the answer is yes. You can both see and feel the tacking column. In fact, if you use this trick, then as the knitter who made the thing, you will never be able un-see it.

However, this does not mean others will see it. See, you have to convince yourself, just like magicians do, that despite how obvious this looks to you, it is invisible to others. "Magic tricks" work because people only SEE what we are LOOKING for. This trick doesn't disturb the fabric so much that it draws attention to itself. Despite knowing something was up, none of the knitters in a class I taught caught this on first sight, and only two out of 10 noticed after being allowed to handle the original sample and look at the outside. Naturally, once they could look at the inside, once the matter was brought to their attention, it was head-slappingly obvious. However, if eight out of ten knitters did not notice despite handling the material and looking hard, I believe you may rest easy.

Naturally, the thicker the original yarn, the less likely this trick is to escape unnoticed, but the photographed sample was knit in worsted weight, the tacking was worked in that same weight and the whole business still slipped by some fairly knowledgeable folks. 

Geek note #1: TACKING, ALMOST INVISIBLE in a THINNER YARN

 It's possible to work this trick with matching yarn which is much thinner. The easiest way to get a perfect match in thinner yarn is split out a ply or two. This link shows the trick for splitting out yarn plies. Using thinner yarn makes tacking almost invisible.

Geek note #2: TACKING, TRULY INVISIBLE in POLYESTER SEWING THREAD
Tacking with a thinner ply is almost invisible, but tacking with sewing thread is utterly and truly invisible. Even the person who did this won't be able to find it. With this trick there's only a photo of the back because there is literally nothing to show on the front. 

Ordinary black polyester sewing thread used to tack, where the surface fabric is black (in other words, what is being caught here is long white floats behind a black background). The thread is invisible on the front--which is why the only photo is of the back.

If this is so invisible, why is this not the main method for tacking down long floats? Couple of reasons. First, tension is more of an issue with thread than with yarn. Second, sewing thread is so strong that, with wear, it might cut the yarn fibers, especially cashmere, merino or other soft fibers. But the main problem is that sewing thread is slippery and hard to slip-stitch with. It's frustrating to lose the thread-loop and have to start all over again (and again, and again). You can (somewhat) mitigate losing the loop by working with a small latch hook, like a knit picker, but the tension problems really arise from trying to control the loop in the first place. As truly invisible as this is, it's waaay pickier than working with yarn, and working with yarn is plenty picky already. Yet, for a show piece, like a saying or slogan on a sweater or a banner, you may find the effort worthwhile. 

Geek note #3: The photos and diagrams above show the float running free, then tacked down via a free-form pinstripe.  However, if you find that your floats are a bit loose, you could ladderback the floats and THEN tack them down. In other words, you don't have to STUART-ized your long floats (slip and park, the release them)  to afterward form a ladderback, you can actually simply ladderback ANY long floats which were knit with enough slack to avoid puckering (the trick, however, is to knit looooong floats at a perfect tension--which is quite a trick!)

Geek note #4: You could try running the free-form pinstripe tacking BETWEEN the columns, but I think this is more obvious--it appears as an extra column inserted into the fabric, per below photo. However, this might be a trick to try if tacking near some shaping, where columns come and go due to increasing or decreasing.

...appears as an extra column inserted into the fabric...

Geek note #5: It will have occurred to you that you could also fasten down ends by tacking, and there will be more about this in a future post. 

Alternative #2 DUPLICATE STITCH

Rather than tacking in continuous columns, you could instead use duplicate stitches to tack the floats, either a) every-row, or b) in bunches. If you do this trick, then, like all duplicate stitching, be sure to duplicate stitch with a dull-pointed needle so you don't pierce the floats or the fabric stitches on the outside, but actually work over the fabric-surface stitches, as well as the floats.

a) Every row

If you work a duplicate stitch every row to fasten down the floats, ask yourself why you aren't freeform pinstripe-tacking instead? Pinstripe-tacking is worked with a running yarn (faster) while sewing (which is what duplicate stitch actually is) is worked with a cut-length (slower). However, perhaps you prefer sewing duplicate stitch to slip-stitching a column with a crochet hook? If so, carry on...  

b) Bunches

If you gather the floats into bunches on the back, you'd only have to duplicate stitch every few rows.  This works best if you only have a very few rows of floats to gather up (two floats? three?)

And think how neat it would be if you actually used the duplicate stitch to not only tack the floats, but as a pretty little highlight-stitch in a completely different color--a dot along a Fair-Isle row, for example, thus killing two birds with one stone. This little samples hints at the possibilities.

Below shows the sample front and back after knitting, but before tying the long floats down with a duplicate stitch.

Below shows the front and back during the duplicate stitch process.

The obvious downside to duplicate stitching is more ends to work in. However, in the above sample, ends are minimized by having the yarn skim from place to place. Which leads to a final trick...

Alternative #3: SKIMMING

Simply skim down super-long floats without the duplicate-stitch trick. For skimming, thread a sharp sewing needle with a sock yarn or a split-out ply in a matching color, then skim though the floats and the fabric back. This is just like skimming in ends. It doesn't look that great on the back (but it doesn't look worse than the duplicate stitch, either). Skimming is a straightforward way of fastening down super long floats invisibly: much better than leaving super-long floats on the fabric back.

--TK

You have been reading TECHknitting blog on invisible stranding in knitting, part 4: alternatives to STUART--tacking down super-long floats as part of the finishing process.