I’ve been knitting my first scarf on a pair of circular needles, I like the stockinette look and I like the knit stitch so it’s been working out great!
I’m about halfway done and want to start on my next project, a basic ribbed hat.
I watched the demo videos a bunch of times and I have a question about ribbing in the round. If I do a 1x1 rib, do I start off with an even or odd number of casts? If even, do I need to switch to purl, knit instead of knit, purl? Or if I start out with an odd number can I just do knit, purl, knit, purl all the way around and get a rib?
What about 2x2s? Any special tricks for going back and forth between circular and straight needles?
Thanks!
A 1x1 rib is a multiple of two - 1 knit and 1 purl - so you need an even number. It’s the easiest to remember.
A 2x2 rib is a multiple of four - 2 knits and 2 purls - so you need a multiple of four (80, 84, 88, 92). If, for example, you co 86 then you would start and end with knits so the pattern wouldn’t work out.
If you choose to do an off rib number like k3p2 you’d have a multiple of 5. Whatever the total number is in the pattern is your multiple. CO accordingly.
If you are knitting in the round you just CO according to the rib you are doing and knit away. If you are knitting flat then you have to learn what the stitches look like because you can CO that off number I mentioned above.
It took me awhile to figure this out so I hope my learning experience helps you. 
Is this the same if you’re working circular or flat? I don’t need to reverse it with every row (as in r1: kkppkkppkkpp… r2: ppkkppkkppkk…) as I’m afraid I do - irrationally I hope - wondering how in the world you keep track of where the “end” of the row of a round is. hah.
Sorry, it’s late and my poor brain is trying to figure this out. I feel like I did back in algebra class! It would be awesome if I could just start out with 92 (or however many) and go kkppkkpp… all the way around.
Thanks for your help.
PS What about the top of the hat? Decreasing ribbing in the round? Yikes, am I getting ahead of myself here? Can I just pull the yarn through all the loops and pull real tight or is that cheating? =]
If you are knitting in the round you do not need to reverse it because you are only working on the right side of the circle. You just keep going around and around and around till you are ready to decrease. You don’t really need to keep track of the beginning of a round unless you are following a particular pattern or something. I usually just use the tail from the CO as an approximate marker, but you can also place regular marker on the needle as well.
When you get to the top of the hat you will need to decrease and when it gets too small for the circular needle you need to either A. put it on DPNs, B. use two circular needles, or C. use magic loop. All methods can be found in the videos and are much easier than they sound.
thanks so much, that’s exactly what i wanted to hear!
now i will be in a knitting frenzy!!
