2x2 ribbing at the bottom of a sweater EEK!

[Darby]

I'm on the 2x2 ribbing part of the bottom of a sweater and the instructions say to decrease to 168 sts. I thought I had but I had 169 sts and I didn't think one stitch would make a difference so I started my k2p2 pattern and did three rounds and it looked like a big mess - no pattern at all. So, I ripped it out and re-started and this time I made sure I had 168 sts. I figured out (the hard way) that you need even amount of sts. for a 2x2 ribbing to come out.
Did you all know that already or did some of you find out the hard way too??

[Jan in CA]

New knitters often don't know this so it's nice that you brought it up to share.

It's a multiple of 4 (2 knits and 2 purls) so you need to have a stitch count that will work. The same holds true of any rib pattern..

k1p1 - multiple of 2
k2p1 - multiple of 3
k2p2 - multiple of 4

etc....

One thing to note... if you are knitting in the round this stitch count is critical so the ribbing will look right. If you are knitting flat there may be times that you want the edges to match - like on a cardigan for instance and you want both front edges to be knits you could change it to this -

k1p1 +1
k2p2 +2
k2p1 +2 The + numbers make the pattern end in knit stitches. You just increase for the number of knits in the rib pattern. The other side however would have purls as the starting stitches so keep that in mind.

[OffJumpsJack]

When knitting ribbing in the round, I just follow the stitches of the first round and knit the knits and purl the purls. I think that works with working flat, also.

If you had followed that rule, then you would have spotted the extra stitch at the end of the first round. You could then have made the center front or back rib three sts wide. Nothing like taking an error and making it part of the pattern.

Of course, right now I have a dropped stitch several rows back. It looks like an extra wide purl bar right across the knit stitch behind it.

I guess it's time to drop a ladder down and rescue that stitch.

Or I could make the same mistake again and again.

--Jack