Ruffle edge, knitted double width and halved

Machine types that can knit it

• Single bed, punch card
• Single bed, electronic
• Single bed, no patterning
• Single bed (punch card) + ribber
• Single bed (electronic) + ribber
• Double bed with pushers (Passap type)
• Double-bed hand flat (V-bed)

Steps

1. Work out the finished width in stitches and cast on twice as many (or one and a half times for 3:2) with a cast-on that does not pull in [inference].
2. Knit the ruffle depth (2–5 cm) in stocking stitch, one tension number looser [inference].
3. Halving row: move each second stitch onto its neighbour with the transfer tool, or gather the row with the garter bar.
4. Push the emptied needles out of work, set the body tension and knit on at the finished width [inference].
5. If the edge stitches draw in, hang a light edge weight.

The full card

What it looks like

A soft, wavy frill along a hem, cuff or neckline. The frill is a band of stocking stitch much wider than the fabric it hangs from, so it falls in loose folds. Where it meets the body there is a neat line of paired stitches, and above that line the fabric is its normal width.

How it behaves

The ruffle band fans out and ripples while the body above it lies flat. More extra stitches give deeper waves: 2:1 makes full folds, 3:2 a gentle flare [inference]. More rows give a deeper ruffle. The free edge, being stocking stitch, curls toward the purl side.

How it works

The ruffle is knitted first, at double width, and gathered on the machine in a single row. Cast on twice the finished stitches (2:1 is the default; 3:2 is gentler), knit the ruffle depth in stocking stitch at a tension about one number looser than the body, then move every second stitch onto its neighbour so each working needle holds two loops. Push the emptied needles out of work and carry on at the finished width; the next row knits each pair as one stitch and locks the gathers in [inference]. Narrowing a frill by moving every other stitch once its first rows are knitted is also how the double-bed frill is made, where every other ribber stitch goes over to the main bed. A garter bar can gather a whole row at once instead of stitch by stitch.

Machines

Any single bed; a ribber is not needed. On any machine the halving row is done by hand, stitch by stitch, with a single-prong transfer tool; an adjustable multi-prong tool with every other prong pushed back can move alternate stitches together [inference]. A garter bar also does it. On Brother electronics the lace carriage can make the every-other-needle transfer in one pass [inference]. A hand flat does it by hand, the same way [inference].

Parameters

Depth 2–5 cm of ruffle rows; gather ratio 2:1 (full, the default) or 3:2 (gentle: move one stitch in every three onto its neighbour) [inference]; tension about one number looser than the body for the ruffle rows [inference]. Spacing the moves evenly across the row is the same sum as decreasing evenly. Yarn thickness, fibre and tension all change how the ruffle falls, so knit a swatch.

Steps

1) Work out the finished width in stitches and cast on twice as many (or one and a half times for 3:2) with a cast-on that does not pull in [inference]. 2) Knit the ruffle depth (2–5 cm) in stocking stitch, one tension number looser [inference]. 3) Halving row: move each second stitch onto its neighbour with the transfer tool, or gather the row with the garter bar. 4) Push the emptied needles out of work, set the body tension and knit on at the finished width [inference]. 5) If the edge stitches draw in, hang a light edge weight.

Charting

The ruffle rows sit at the bottom of the bed chart at full width. The halving row is a row of transfer marks on every second needle, each pointing at its neighbour; above it those needles are out of work [inference].

Limits and common problems

The double-width cast-on must fit the bed: a hem of 100 stitches needs 200 needles, so wide pieces take the ruffle as a separate strip, held on waste yarn and linked or sewn on later [inference]. A hem under the ruffle adds weight and stiffness and flattens the waves [inference]. Halving row knitted too tight → loops drop or the pairs pucker; keep that row at least at body tension [inference]. The free edge rolls; a yarn that blocks flat, or a few edge stitches that do not curl, helps.

Combines with

machine-linking, piped-edge, pk-flared-edges, transfer-lace-l-carriage.

Pieces and assembly

Skirt and sleeve hems, cuffs, collars and neck frills, shawl borders. Knitted in one with the piece when the bed is wide enough; otherwise a separate strip joined by linking, or seamed as you knit, row for row. Guagliumi's class teaches ruffles in the same lesson as rehanging finished work and joining as you knit; so a ruffle can also be knitted onto an edge that is hung back on the needles[inference].

Related techniques

• Folded button stand with waste-yarn buttonholes
• Piped edge (rolled tube trim)
• Machine i-cord (tube cord)
• V-neck shaped by holding
• Neckline shaped on waste yarn (divide and rehang)
• Linking trims and seams on the knitting machine (no linker)