PurlbedRib › Rib textures and blocks
Alternating vertical-rib and horizontal-rib blocks
Basket-weave-like patchwork: blocks of vertical stripes beside blocks of horizontal stripes, swapping position each block-row. Surface warps and undulates because neighbouring blocks contract in different directions.
- Two beds
Machine types that can knit it
Demo swatch
Drawn for: Double-bed hand flat (V-bed)Approximate preview worked out from the bed chart, not a photo.
Steps
- Cast on multiples of 2W.
- Set A blocks to N×N, B blocks all front.
- Every R rows transfer B blocks to the other bed; repeat f times.
- Swap A/B roles; repeat. Blocks need not be square.
The full card
- What it looks like
- Basket-weave-like patchwork: blocks of vertical stripes beside blocks of horizontal stripes, swapping position each block-row. Surface warps and undulates because neighbouring blocks contract in different directions.
- How it behaves
- strong multi-directional undulation; quilted/padded look.
- How it works
- Block 1 holds an N×N vertical rib (k groups); block 2 holds all stitches on one bed and flips bed every R rows (horizontal rib). After H rows, swap: vertical block goes to all-one-bed, horizontal block is reset to N×N.
- Machines
- Double bed; lots of transfers; hand flat or ribber.
- Parameters
- N (book: 10), groups per block g (book: 5 → block width W = g·N = 50), R rows per horizontal stripe (book: 12), flips per block f (5 → H = f·R = 60), gauge.
- Steps
- 1) Cast on multiples of 2W. 2) Set A blocks to N×N, B blocks all front. 3) Every R rows transfer B blocks to the other bed; repeat f times. 4) Swap A/B roles; repeat. Blocks need not be square.
- Charting
- Grid scaled (e.g. 1 cell = 2 st × 2 rows): A block vertical grey/white bands; B block horizontal grey/white bands; bold lines at block boundaries.
- Limits and common problems
- Heavy transfer workload; mismatched block heights distort.
- Combines with
- block-transfer-checker, plating.
- Pieces and assembly
- Edges wave; stabilise with a plain rib or jersey border before seaming.
Written in our own words from machine manuals, knitting references and swatching. Knit a test swatch before a whole piece.