Knitting Techniques: Corrugated Ribbing (with knitting videos!)

So … I’ve been working on Amy Christoffers’ Galvanized Cardigan for over a year, and I’m beating myself up about it, because I’m knitting it as a gift, and I wanted to get it done sooner. #knittingguilt

I’m knitting this one for our family doctor; here’s the story. Several years ago, Mimi knitted this cardigan for a Project Diary on Knitting Daily (link at end of post), and it turned out not to fit her as well as she hoped, so she gave it to my mom, who wears it ALL THE TIME. In fact, she’s wearing it right now. No joke.

Anyway, Mom wore it to a doctor’s appointment, and our doc fell in love with it. She asked my mom where she got it, and when she heard that Mimi knit it, she asked if she could pay one of us to make it for her, in exactly the same yarn. My mom said she’d ask us, but we didn’t usually knit for other people.

When she asked me about it, though, I said I would love to knit it for Dr. Awesome (not her real name, ha ha). After everything she’s done for our family, it’s the least I can do. And Dr. A is the size a of a pea, so I thought I could get it done quickly. But, as you know, I didn’t.

I’m back to it now, though, and I will finish it in time for her to wear it before the weather warms up. #knittinggoals

This sweater is started from the bottom up and knit to the underarms. Then the sleeves are knit and attached to the body, and the yoke is knitted to finish up the body. The sweater is completed by knitting the neckband and buttonband. I’ve got the body and one sleeve done, and I’ve cast on the other sleeve.

The most challenging part of this sweater is the corrugated ribbing (I’ll bet you were wondering when I was going to get to that!). I filmed a video about knitting this technique in the round, and I’m working on one for knitting it flat. The flat corrugated ribbing is actually more challenging, and much less common, than working this technique in the round. Since corrugated ribbing is used all the time in colorwork on hems, cuffs, and hats, it’s usually knit in the round, as those things lend themselves to that method. And colorwork sweaters are usually steeked, so you can still knit the ribbing in the round.

Regardless of how you knit this ribbing, the trick is twisting the yarn not in use as you knit so you don’t have a hole between each color. It’s the same method that’s used in intarsia knitting; you pick up the new color from under the old color, which naturally twists the two colors in the process.

Amy’s directions for corrugated ribbing say, “When working corrugated rib, always strand the yarn not in use across the wrong side of the fabric , as for stranded colorwork. This will require passing the yarns front and back for the purl and knit stitches and simultaneously stranding the unused color.” Okaaaaaay …. I had to work hard to wrap my brain around this until I got the yarn in my hands.

This is k1, p1 knitting with two colors, but you have to work if as if you’re using one color, so the purling yarn has to be moved to the back after each purl stitch and the new yarn must be brought under the old yarn each time you knit, which secures the yarn. It’s a lot of bringing yarn back and forth, but once you get into the rhythm, it’s no big deal.

When knitting in the round, I found that holding the purl yarn in my left hand helped me automatically trap the yarn. Here’s how I did that, plus another cool tip about this knitting technique.

So that’s pretty easy. But for this pattern, you also have to knit corrugated ribbing flat, which is a bit more challenging. You have to take the purl yarn to the back when you’re working on the right side, and the knit yarn to the front when you’re working on the wrong side. WHAAAAAT?? I know. Here’s a video that might help:

I can’t wait to get the Galvanized Cardigan finished and deliver it to Dr. Awesome!

Cheers,

Links and Stuff

Galvanized Cardigan Project Diary

Galvanized Cardigan knitting pattern from the Interweave Store