I don’t know about you, but I was taught that when you knitting a ribbing pattern and you are going to change colors, that the first row or round of the new color should be all knit stitches, ignore the ribbing it won’t make a difference.
The last part is true, One row or round of all knit stitches in a rib pattern isn’t going to break the rib or change the job the rib is doing in any way.
The part that I learned isn’t true is what is assumed from the beginning. That the color change is going to be glaringly obvious and so we need to work only knit stitches for the first row or round of the new color.
I was recently making hat and bootie sets for the new moms at church and I was using up some scraps from the blanket project for the same purpose. As such I was striping the hats and even the booties. I made all of the hats to be 2 x 2 rib because that is the most practical and will fit the longest.
When I saw what it looked like on the inside, I was a bit disappointed because I want to turn the brim up and change colors again. This was going to make one of the “ugly” sides of the color change be on the outside. So I got smart and decided to flip the hat inside out and then change colors at the second color change.
So what happened after the experiment above, is that I needed to record a video so that I could make a tutorial available for those who want to do it too. I will upload the video of what I was planning to show. It is cut suddenly with me speechless and confused. Continue reading to find out why.
On this hat that I thought I was being so careful with, I forgot to do the first color change in all knits. I instead worked the color change in pattern. See video here.
After I figured out what I had done, I sat down to experiment some more and figure out why this mistake had worked.
So after all these years and people saying “color change in ribbing needs to be worked in all knits”. I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t. Just work in the pattern and it’ll look fine.
Disclaimer, this is a 2 x 2 ribbing pattern and other ribbing patterns might vary. Swatch! You don’t know what you’ve got until you swatch!
Happy making!
Azariahs Fibre Arts 