Fisherman's Rib in the Round

I’m not up to this point yet, but I figured I’d start researching in advance for a change (what a concept, right?). I’ve watched a couple of different tutorials on Fisherman’s rib, and it doesn’t seem like it’d be terribly difficult. (I do the tricky part of it by accident all the time!) But all of the videos I’ve found have one thing in common: they’re all knit flat. The only thing that doesn’t quite compute is that when you’re knitting flat and turn the work over, you continue the same pattern (p1, k1b) which – I assume – is the result of the even number of CO stitches making the last (k1b) stitch on the “RS” a p1 when you flip it over to the "WS (if such a thing can be said to exist in a reversible fabric). Since you’re never turning the work over in the round, do you have to adjust the CO so the count is an odd number, or am I just overthinking things and you just horse on with the same stitch until you’re done?

Also, how would the decreases work once you get to the crown shaping? I’ve done [I]increases[/I] in [I]plain[/I] (3x3) ribbing before, but I can’t recall ever merging a knit and a purl in a decrease. It just don’t seem natcherul. :eyebrow:

You can do the alternate rows as p1b, k1 when working in the round. It’s no harder to p1b than k1b after a few stitches. You would knit or purl the ‘1b’ stitch on the following round and ‘1b’ on the previous round’s knot or purl stitch. And yeah, an even st number helps.

Thanks! I guess I [I]wasn’t[/I] overthinking it after all. For a change. Wonders never cease. I’ve never done a p1b, but then again I’ve never done a [I]k1b[/I] on purpose either. So one shouldn’t be significantly harder than the other.

It’s actually easier to k/p 1b - you stick the needle into the center of the stitch below the one on the needle, it’s larger because there’s no needle in it.

That would explain how easily I do it by accident! :mrgreen: Actually I only seem to have a problem when it’s a knit, I guess because of the orientation of the RH needle.

in theory only… i would think if the pattern is
Row 1: knit
Row 2: k1 *p1 k1b rep to last 2 p1 k1

an easier way would be to reverse your rows making Row 2 : purl and Row 1:k1 *p1 k1b rep to last 2 p1 k1. I am a complete pattern newbie but in my head this seams like it would work on the round. Has anyone tried it and if not let me know maybe I might give it a go and see.

I think I’ve done something like that, though it may only be what’s called ‘half’ Fisherman’s Rib.