The Knitting Fiend

I promised Jim a thicker raglan; on to swatching!

I’ve decided to test knit my next generator using something fancier than stockinette. Still, I want the pattern to be fairly easy. So, I dragged out my stitch books. The stitch pattern needs to be simple to work, fairly easy for a beginner to rip back (should things go wrong), have a relatively small pattern repeat, not too overused, and suitable for a conservative man’s sweater.

That’s asking a lot.

Brioche stitch and its cousin, Fisherman’s rib, seem to be popular in recent knitting magazines. All are attractive and look wonderful in men’s sweaters. I have to warn beginners though: Don’t make a mistake when knitting. It can be difficult to pick up stitches after ripping back. Many cable patterns are beautiful, but the pattern and row repeats are large. I want to avoid those for now.

Anyway, I flipped through all of Barbara Walkers stitch pattern books. After looking through tons of stitches, I finally hit “Cartridge Belt Rib” (found on page 21 of “The Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns”). I swatched; it looked nice to me. I ripped a few rows to test whether it’s difficult to pick up stitches; I find it easier than picking up the stitches in Brioche stitch or Fisherman’s rib. After knitting enough to learn I like this stitch, I practiced decreasing to see how that would look. I was able to get the ribs to slant in attractively. I think that type of decrease will look nice at the raglan shoulder line.

If Jim approves of this stitch pattern, it will reappear at this site in several weeks. Later on, it will become a raglan. I haven’t decided on the color or yarn though. I may pick olive. Any suggestions?