Uneven ribbing!!! Please help. :(

[craftyhands22]

Ok, I'm knitting a scarf for my boyfriend for Christmas and I am using Plymouth Encore worsted weight yarn. I am using size 5mm needles and am doing it in a K2P2 rib. I am having problems because I have gotten about half way done with the scarf, and have noticed that my ribbing is just very uneven. The ribs aren't too wide, its just that alot of the knit stitches seem to be looser in a lot of places, so it gives it a bumpy uneven look, rather than a uniform stripe all the way up. It's just funky looking. So I decided that I was actually knitting rather loosely so I experimented with a tighter tension, trying to keep it as uniform as possible, then with smaller needles. It still looks funny. I also tried it with some Caron simply soft just to see if a change of yarn would look different, and it did look a tad better, but not a whole lot. :( I am out of ideas, and I've been messing with it ALL DAY and I think I've been practicing with it so much that it's actually getting worse. It's driving me crazy. Oh, and I am a continental knitter, if that could possibly be an issue. I never thought I knit uneven, because my stockinette stitch has always looked pretty good. Does anyone have any suggestions? I need to get this problem fixed soon because I have to knit 2 of these scarves for Christmas presents. Aaaagh!

[janelanespaintbrush]

This is a common problem. Do you knit english or continental? If you knit continental, you can try "combined knitting." Amy has videos under the basic techniques tab above, or you can look here or here. If english, you can try Nona's method for ribbing. They essentially do the same thing -- you're wrapping the yarn in the opposite direction when purling. (The problem has to do with how much the yarn has to travel when purling compared to knitting and both methods involve purling in a different way to adjust for the difference.) You can also try to just purl more tightly than you knit by giving a little tug.

All that said, have you looked at pictures of ribbing in books? They are never even, especially 1x1 ribbing. (Go ahead, take a look. I'll wait.) Only machine knitting is really even. So don't sweat it too much, because it's normal. The gauge will probably even out a bit after you wash and block it too.

[craftyhands22]

Thank you so much, I definitely need to try some of these techniques!