Ribbing Help

So I started this scarf as a beginner project and it’s:
Cast on 32 stitches
*K2, P2
Bind off.

Pretty simple, right?

Wrong.

I cast on and the first row after that goes fine. Then when I go back on the WS, the loops on the needles are turned backwards so I have to flip them in order to get my needle in to knit properly. I don’t have that problem with the purling stitches, just the knits…and not necessarily all the time.

HELP!!! :hair:

I want to go onto more intense projects so I can do this cool monkey backpack for my daughter in the Stitch ‘n’ Bitch book but if I can’t master basic knitting and purling in a rib scarf, I’m not going to tackle intarsia, increasing, or decreasing yet.

It sounds like you may be knitting or purling incorrectly. Go to the video tab and check them out. Let us know what happens.

Especially watch the way the yarn is wrapped around the needle in the knit stitch. You may be inadvertantly wrapping in front of the right needle and toward the back on some of the knits rather than around the back of the right needle to toward the front. If you’re doing that, it will change the position of the stitch for the next row.

This is happening because of the way you’re wrapping the yarn around the needle. Wrap the yarn away from you rather than toward you. I would knit up a small swatch with scrap yarn. Do all garter stitch. Pay close attention to the way you’re wrapping stitches and practice on this. After a while, the movement becomes a habit and you don’t even think about it. I use the scrap practice method any time I’m practicing a new stitch pattern, technique, or practicing knitting with even tension. This also works great if you’re trying to practice new decreases and want to see how they shape a garment.

You’re probably wrapping the purls ‘backwards’ to how it’s usually done, but you don’t have to change that. Just knit into the leg closest to the tip of the needle on the next row and it’ll come out right, you don’t need to turn the sts. That’ll be the leg in back of the needle, but it’s okay, lots of knitters work like this.

I was purling clockwise instead of counter :doh: Just got into a rhythm and wasn’t payin attention. Frogged my work (before my post) before I realized what I had done - by the time I realized what I had done wrong I was in bed (and hadn’t read your helpful info yet) and it was midnight and it hit me - “I WAS PURLING THE WRONG WAY!” Scared my husband a bit… :rofl:

I cast on my 32 sts again and I’m off and rollin.

Thanks for the help!