Something about my brain is refusing to accept switching sides. I forget which one I’m supposed to do every time. I know practice makes perfect but it’s gonna take a lot of practice to make up for my bonkers brain.
Just wanted a bit of a rant. I guess I’ll keep making squares and trying my best.
I hate ribbing and I have been knitting for 17 years. It is annoying. Everyone has their little knitting thing that they just dread (a lot of folks hate purling, apparently).
I surprisingly enjoy purling but I can only do it English style. Continental purling makes no sense to my brain. Continental knits and English purls for me are the same tension so that works out even if it’s a bit odd.
You’re not alone OP, I hated ribbing back when I was a newbie and honestly don’t much care for it to this day.
No matter what I did the transition from knit to purl stitches was always really loose and messy looking for me. If anyone else has the same problem I found just going down a needle size really helped, although obviously it’ll affect gauge so bear that in mind.
It will make a big difference if you learn to “read” your knitting so you don’t have to try to remember. For a standard ribbing, if the stitch you are about to work is in a columns of V’s, you knit it. Otherwise you purl. Of course, that probably doesn’t help much with the setup row…
Just a little practice everyday is all it takes, it’ll be second nature in no time. I remember switching knitting styles (holding the yarn in the left handinstaead of the right), I thought I would never knit again. It took about a week and I was in it again!
I switched to Continental early on and it helped the carpal tunnel. Even that was fairly easy, by rib knits make my brain spin.
I’m a big fan of the Techknitter blog. Her posts are so informative and get right down to the (k)nitty gritty of knitting.
Here is a detailed post about ribbing which may or may not make your brain spin even more
