Easy Ribbing: How to Work Knit One, Purl One (K1, P1) Ribbing
Mary Beth TempleDescription
Once you’ve mastered the knit and purl stitches, you’re ready to try ribbing. In this video, Mary Beth Temple will demonstrate how to work knit one, purl one (K1, P1) ribbing. She’ll also share some tips on how to read your fabric and how to avoid mistakes while working this stitch. You’ll find ribbing used on the edges of many different projects, like the neckline of a sweater or a cuff of a sock.
When working this easy ribbing pattern, it’s important to remember to bring the yarn in between the needles when alternating between knit stitches and purl stitches. Work the ribbing using these simple steps:
– Knit 1 stitch.
– Move yarn in between the needles to the front of work.
– Purl 1 stitch.
– Move yarn in between the needles to the back of work.
K1, P1 RIBBING WORKED FLAT
To work this stitch pattern, you can have either an even or odd number of stitches on your knitting needle. If you have an even number of stitches, the 1×1 ribbing pattern is super simple, because every row, whether you are on the right side or wrong side of your work, is the same.
All rows: (K1, P1) to end.
If you have an odd number of stitches on the needle, you’ll work as follows:
Row 1 (RS): (K1, P1) to the last stitch, K1.
Row 2 (WS): (P1, K1) to the last stitch, P1.
Repeat Rows 1 and 2 to desired length.
K1, P1 RIBBING WORKED IN THE ROUND
To work this stitch pattern in the round, you’ll need an even number of stitches on your knitting needle. Then work as follows:
Round 1: (K1, P1) to end.
Repeat Round 1 to desired length.
No matter the number of stitches on your knitting needle, or whether you are working flat or in the round, just remember to knit the knits and purl the purls. Once you have this common 1×1 ribbing stitch mastered, you’ll be able to explore a wide variety of other types of ribbing.
ABBREVIATIONS
K: Knit
P: Purl
RS: Right Side
WS: Wrong Side
Hi guys! Mary Beth Temple here for The Knitting Circle. In this video, we're gonna take a closer look at the knit one, purl one rib. Now, knit one, purl one rib is a really basic skill that's good to have in your bag of tricks. It makes a fabric that is sort of elastic so it'll stretch out and stretch back in. We use it on necklines, on cuffs, and to hold your socks up. So, let's get started with the knit one, purl one rib. So, as I said before, one of the things we like about ribbing is that the fabric itself has a lot of elasticity, and you can see that the knit stitches are sort of near each other and then it can spread open while I put on my sleeve or my sock, or my sweater, and then it snaps back. And I'm using this as the cuff of a hat just so you know what we're headed for. So, knit one, purl one ribbing is just as easy as it sounds. You have your yarn in the back, you're going to knit a stitch, and then with your yarn in the front, you're going to purl in the stitch. Yarn in the back, knit. Yarn in the front, purl. Now, the only place where people get into trouble with this is when they are bringing the yarn either from the back to the front or the front to the back. You want to make sure that you go between the two needle tips without catching anything. You don't want to go over or around or anything fancy like that. It's literally just front to back, back to front. But make sure you're going between those two needle tips, and that you are not accidentally creating yarnovers, which would give you additional stitches. The other thing that I want to point out when you're trying to learn to read your knitting to understand what stitch you do next, if you look at these stitches that look like a "V." You see how they come down and they join down at the bottom? That is a stitch that you want to knit. If you look at these sort of recessed stitches, and we refer to that as a purl bump, those are the stitches you want to purl for knit one, purl one ribbing. So even if you put your work down and walk away, and you come back and you can't decide what to do next, I'm looking at this, it's slightly recessed, it looks like a purl bump. I'm gonna bring that yarn forward and purl. That next stitch, see, there's my "V." There's the two legs of the stitch joining at the bottom. That wants to be a knit stitch, and you see how I needed to pull that tip out, make sure it goes right between the needles and not over one or another. So if you're new to this, just count every once in a while, make sure you have the same number of stitches that you started with if you're not doing a deliberate increase. See, I told you it was easy. And now that you know the basics of ribbing, you can explore some other options. There's all kinds of ribbings out there, but knit one, purl one is the most common. So, thank you for joining us here on The Knitting Circle. I'm Mary Beth Temple; we look forward to seeing you around real soon. Check out all the other things we have to offer and take care. Bye bye.
Excellent
My rib stitch (corrugated) rolls at the bottom edge. I am trying a new experiment of knitting about 3 rows of garter stitch before I start the K1, P1. Is there a better way to keep the edge from curling???