twisted rib scarf technique

twisted rib scarf

My poor, patient husband’s Christmas gift is finally finished. It’s a scarf to match his birthday hat, which was knit with a twisted rib in the round. I wanted to do something similar for his scarf, but had trouble matching the look of the hat while knitting flat. Here’s what I came up with:

K1 western style, P1 combination style

The result: every other row has twisted knit stitches.

I’ve been a big fan of Annie Modesitt’s combination knitting method for some time. Honestly, it’s because of the purl stitches. I love them because they are so easy. Blending western knits and combination purls got me pretty close to matching the hat.

combination notes: Annie’s website is a wealth of combination knitting knowledge and it’s how I learned her method. Grumperina has a nice history and videos, as well.

stash: This was knit from my never-ending stash of black Cascade 220. I’d like to make matching gloves or wrist warmers, but I’d be pushing my luck on what my husband might wear.

i forgot the combination

These wrist warmers are knit in the round until you get to the thumb. You go back and forth until the thumb is finished and then go back to knitting in the round. As you can see on the left, I was having issues with the thumb section and I couldn’t figure out why.

wrist warmers

A little back story: When I do ribbing in the round, I knit continental and purl combination. I don’t know why. It just seems easier to me. When I’m going around and around, it doesn’t matter. What I failed to remember is that when I go back and forth, my stitches are twisted. Doh!

So, both wrist warmers were finished, but in the back of my mind they were bugging me. I don’t remember exactly when I realized my mistake. It was probably in the shower. Isn’t that where all of our a-ha moments occur? Last night I ripped back to the beginning of the thumb and paid closer attention to the orientation of my stitches. The fixed one is on the right.

Now that I’ve figured it out, I feel kind of dumb.