Let's (half) twist again

I love the architecture of rib stitches – the way they catch the light and the subtleties of shading in the patterning. It is an added bonus that most of them are reversible, too.

Rib fabrics have such a fluidity to them, bending and stretching and then (usually!) returning to their resting state afterwards. They are just naturally elastic and are perfect for warm autumnal wear as they gently hug the torso and trap the air inside.
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The photo above shows the rib for the sweater that I am working on right now in a wonderfully soft wool & alpaca yarn.  But do you  notice anything? Well, if you look closely at this, you’ll see that I am not using a standard K1, P1 pattern. Instead, each of the stitches has been twisted – or at least the ones on the front have been!

This is Half‐Twisted Rib, taken from our Reversible Knitting Stitches book, and it has been one of my favourite stitches ever since I "invented" it when I was about 13! Well you do invent things at that age, don't you...
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I had been working a sweater with twisted stitches on both sides and then realised that I preferred it if I only twisted the ones on the right side. It was, for a start, much easier to knit and also gave a very neat well‐spaced rib on the front. ​The back, meanwhile, had a slightly flattened version of plain rib which made it very comfortable to wear.

​Of course, later on I found that this was a well-known pattern, but it still remains a go‐to stitch of mine, especially for menswear.

I like it especially for the welt of Men's sweaters as it has quite a high degree of resiliency and gives a slimming finish. I also like it for short sock cuffs. For turn-over cuffs, I perhaps prefer the slightly softer look of a 2x1 rib, but for short sock cuffs it works very well.

​The photo above shows a version of the Mentmore Socks pattern using  this rib, and the socks stay very nicely in place. These have been worked in kettle-dyed yarns and you can read more about using those here.

So let me show you some examples for both Plain Rib and the fully-twisted version, Twisted Rib so you can see how wonderful my [ahem] invention was!

Firstly, let's look at the K1, P1 Rib – also known as Single Rib, 1x1 Rib and Plain Rib. This is a broad, soft rib with a good amount of stretch which makes it perfect for hats, as you can see in Anna's lovely Carey Beanie Hat design above. 

It is fairly easy to work and results in tightly‐packed columns of knit stitches with the purls buried deep inside the structure. Indeed the knit stitches can sit so closely together that the fabric can resemble Stocking Stitch when it comes off the needles! It is only when you gently pull the material widthwise that you see the ribbing structure.

The reverse of Half-Twisted Rib looks quite similar, but with the stitches slightly wider and a little flattened in comparison. The two fabrics also feel quite different. Single Rib can be quite dense, with the stitches feeling soft, plump and full, while Half-Twisted Rib tends to be thinner and with a stronger, harder stitch definition to the front.

And here is Twisted Rib, showing the comparison with the Half-Twisted version at the top of the page. The columns of stitches are marginally closer together in this fully-twisted version, and the rib is quite a lot tighter and more compressed.

It is certainly harder on the hands to work as every stitch is twisted on every row. However, the stitch is well-defined and the fabric is truly reversible while the Half-Twisted Rib is what we term a "double-sided" fabric.

It is certainly interesting comparing these ribbing styles, isn't it. Of the three, I would say that I use the Half-Twisted Rib more often than the other two – it just seems to suit my knitting style, and I like the neat result on the front and the soft feel to the back.

Try it for yourself and see what you think!

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