Increasing During 2x2 Ribbing?

jlybelly wrote

on Dec 18, 2012 12:36 PM

Hi!

I'm knitting myself a sweater from a bit of notes. It's not a full pattern, more of a collection of suggestions of how to recreate a sweater from a TV show.

Anyway, the instructions say "CO 112 stitches on smaller needles Work in 2x2 rib for 2 inches increasing to 119 stitches. Switch to larger needle."

I guess I really have 2 questions.

How do I go about doing the increases in the 2x2 ribbing? And how would you suggest I go about switching to the larger needles?

Merlich wrote

on Dec 18, 2012 4:11 PM

Hi jlybelly,

Most of the patterns suggest you to use a smaller number of needles to knit the ribbing and a different and bigger number for the rest of your project. It is always up to you that suggestion, why? You always have to make your swatch in order to know your tension and calculate the number of stitches per inch you have and that way be accurate and at the end your garment will be the way you've imagined, calculated and seen in your pattern, in case you follow one.

Some times you realize you don't need to change to a larger number of needles due to your tension and the number of stitches per inch that your pattern asks for.  They always ask you to match your swatch with the one of the pattern no matter if you use the same number of needles that they did. The important thing is the same number of stitches per inch.

Now, you want to know how to increase your number of stitches. You've casted on 112 and you need to increase evenly  in 7 more stitches to reach number 119 of total stitches. Then, you divide the number of the CO stitches between the number of the stitches you need to add plus one, then you will get the number of stitches you need to knit between increases:

112 CO stitches / (7 stitches to increase + 1) = 14 stitches.

This means you have to knit 14 stitches and then add your new stitch, again, knit 14 stitches and then add a new stitch, and so on.

14 - 14 - 14 - 14 - 14 - 14 - 14 - 14

The horizontal bar represents the new stitch. (This is the distribution).

The way you can do the increases is up to you too. There are different ways to do it:

1) You can make your increases while you are knitting your 2/2 ribbing. I recommend you to make your increases on your WS of your garment, unless your pattern asks you for a different way. The increases don't interfere with the sequence. Knit your K2, P2 (7 times = 14 stitches), M1 [or take your strand and twist the yarn in your RN (right needle)], K2, P2 (7 times = 14 stitches), M1, and so on. You need to be careful when you are counting your stitches so you just get 119 in total. Then, you can switch to your bigger needles to keep on with your pattern.

2) You can knit your ribbing just the way you did on your RS, then change to the bigger needle and purl all the stitches (WS) making all the increases the way we calculated above.

There are many different ways to make your increases, these are only a few examples. Maybe you know many others. The objective is that they work for you just the way you want. I could tell you a lot of many other ways to make increases but I don't want to overwhelm you. I think these are the easiest ones.

I hope I could have made your things clearer.

Come back if you need more help. We are many knitters who enjoy sharing what we know about knitting and our experience might help you.

Enjoy your knitting! (Be patient!).

Merlich

ZassZ wrote

on Dec 18, 2012 4:58 PM

Hi Merlich,

I really like your above explanation.  Very nice. 

Merlich wrote

on Dec 19, 2012 12:15 AM

Hi ZassZ,

Thank you for your compliments!!