I’m starting a beret, and they’ve phrased the directions in a way I haven’t encountered before.
Cast on and odd number of stitches, then do four rows of k1, p1 ribbing, in which you do the first row k1, p1 (okay, I’m with you so far), then for each of the next three rows “knit in the knit stitches and purl in the purl stitches.”
I’m undoubtedly overthinking this – but it seems to me that whether it’s a knit or a purl kind of depends on which side you’re looking at it from. So is a knit stitch one that you created by knitting, or one that looks like a knit stitch from the side you’re on?
Short version – if my first row begins and ends with a knit, does my second row begin and end with a purl or with a knit?
I’m not a knitter (except for a few long-ago feeble attempts), but my mother is and I know a little about knitting by osmosis. So wait for confirmation from a real knitter, but . . . yes, it’s a knit as viewed from one side and a purl as viewed from the other, regardless of what you were doing when you did the stitch.
Think about how ribbing works: you need vertical rows of alternating knit, purl, knit, purl . . . but because you turn the work on each row, the knits “become” purls and vice versa.
I am willing to be corrected on this, but I think I have it right. Hope it makes sense.
How funny–I think I asked this exact same question about 2-3 years ago when I first started getting heavily into knitting, and now here I am answering it!
What pattern are you working with? For berets, it’s unusual to be working flat. Usually you would work these in the round–it’s easier and requires less finishing work.
If you work in the round, the right side of the work (RS) will always be facing you, so if you started the first round with a knit, you will always work that same stitch as a knit stitch.
If you work flat, what is a knit on one side is a purl on the other. When they say “knit the knits and purl the purls” or “work the stitches as they appear,” this means you should knit the stitches as they appear to you on the side you’re currently working, i.e. one that looks like a knit stitch from the side you’re on. So if you knit the first stitch and last stitch on the previous row, then turned the work over, you would now purl the first and last stitch, since those stitches look like purls to you now.
Also, it’s unusual that it would be an odd number of stitches cast on, since that would cause you to have either two knits or two purls in a row after you either seam it up or join to work in the round.
Contrast: kpkpk – the two k’s will be next to each other if joined to work in the round, or the two k’s will become part of the seam if the beret is sewn shut, and the two p’s will now be next to each other. kpkp – God’s in his heaven, the p’s are next to the k’s, all’s right in the world.
Right – for normal ribbing, that’s correct. I’m not clear whether this is some goofy kind of ribbing, though – they’re calling it “knit one, purl one ribbing.”
And why they couldn’t just tell me what to start the second row with, I don’t know … :mad:
I just called my mom to double-check, and she said I had it right . . . “Unless you’re working on circular needles, then you don’t have to turn it!! <evil laugh>.” Yes, my mom made an evil laugh over knitting. I’m not quite sure what to make of that.
Thanks, tiltypig – my response in #4 was to Scarlett, not you.
Yes, it’s worked flat, and it’s an odd number because the body of it is a knit/slip stitch that makes a double layer that looks like stockinette from both sides, so you need to be alternating for that.
Well, that way you don’t have to keep track of what row you’re on, or count stitches. Look at the knitting from the front side and do what stitch you see.
But I don’t need unclear directions in order to do that – I can extrapolate repeats on most stitches such that I can tell what I’m doing next when I pick up my knitting without having anything written down.
