In this (repeat) photo from the other day, you can see that my rib stitches (being made with the horizontal needles) are fairly evenly spaced between each pair of knit stitches (being made with the vertical cylinder needles).

The underside of the ribber dial (the slotted disc that holds the ribber needles) looks like this:

Notice the ‘tab’ at the red arrow.

Here it is seen from the side.

That ‘tab’ fits against the Needle Cylinder Lever on the inside of the cylinder – seen at the pink arrow below.

The Lever goes right down to below the bottom of the cylinder, where is rests agains the Ribber Cylinder Lever Regulator Screw:

You should be able to just make out the bottom of the lever resting from behind into the groove at the left side of the Regulator Screw.

Turning the regulator screw in one direction or the other will cause the Lever to pivot in the opposite direction – it pivots on the little screw that holds the Lever to the cylinder.  Since the Tab on the underside of the Ribber Dial rests against the Lever, changing the position of the Lever by turning the Regulator Screw will alter how the slots (for the horizontal needles) line up in relation to the vertical slots (for the vertical needles) – so you can tweak this position to evenly space your rib stitches with respect to your knit stitches.

When placing the ribber on the CSM its good to have that Regulator Screw in approximately middle so that you can adjust to the left or to the right as needed.

Once you’ve set this position, you will rarely have to change it.

The little screw that holds the Lever to the cylinder is easy to lose, and antique CSM’s  may have it missing. This was the case with my Verdun 47.  I found that a little screw from a Light Switch plate was a suitable replacement. I’m not sure if the thread is exact, but it works.

The Cylinder Lever can affect the equality of tension on how your sock hangs in the cylinder. Pay extra attention, especially in heels and toes – it is easy to have an incomplete stitch when you pass over top of the lever. Easy enough to fix that stitch, but just keep an eye.  I find that pulling down a little extra hard on my heel weights when I do the 5th short row avoids the problem most of the time.

If you are not planning to use the ribber for a length of time, its just as well to remove the Lever so you don’t have that extra way of missing a stitch to worry about. When I remove the Lever I put it in a small sandwich bag with its screw, and seal the bag so I don’t lose the screw.

Timing is everything!

Today’s post, after being with no @@#!$#%^&&$#@ internet service for 4 days – FOUR DAYS! – is about setting the timing of the ribbing attachment.

If you were a good boy or girl, you took many photos of your sock knitter when you got it, especially in case its previous owner knew what they were doing, and things were set at the correct setting of knitting ;o) Even if not set correct, it is good to have a reference point to begin with.

Setting/adjusting the timing of the ribber is a little more complex than the main cylinder timing as there are more bits and pieces involved. But at its root, it is still fairly simple if you take it one step at a time.

The object of the game is to have the ribber needles knit IN HARMONY with the cylinder knit stitches. That is to say, there is no point having a rib stitch knit correctly if it bungs up your knits stitches or vice versa – so timing sets the rib stitches both in relation to themselves, and to the knit stitches.

A. Is the Drive Pin. This L-shaped pin going through the ribber arm is what makes the ribber turn. When you turn the crank to move the yarn carrier, the ribber arm turns too (since its attached). If the drive pin is in place, it will turn the tappet plate (the black thing that contains B, C, and D). If the drive pin is removed, you can crank til the cows come home and the tappet plate will not turn, so nothing will happen.

The only time I remove the drive pin is when knitting a sock that has ribbing on the leg and the top of the foot, when doing the heel. If you do your short rows on the heel – cranking back and forth, with the tappet plate engaged, you will have a real mess (and no sock) on your hands.

B is the Off-On ‘switch’. If this switch is in toward the center, then it is ON (think – IN work). If the switch is moved to the outside of the center, then it is OFF (think – OUT of work).  The difference between being OFF (out of work) and removing that Drive Pin (A), is that the tappet plate still turns when the ribber is switched OFF, but the needles bypass the cams inside the tappet plate – as in, they don’t go out and grab the yarn, so they do not knit a stitch – you will just have the bar of a stitch, like in mock rib, between the cylinder needle knit stitches. This is fine and won’t muck up your knitting as long as you aren’t in a heel or toe where you want to crank in both directions.

I use the Off switch when knitting the selvage on a 1 x 1 rib top (knit one row ON, followed by one row OFF, and then crank away.)

C – you see a screw and a nut.  By adjusting the screw one way or another you change WHEN the Drive Pin hits the end of the screw, which is what turns the tappet plate (that has the cams that make the rib needles go in and out). This is what sets the timing of when the rib needle BEGINS  a stitch, ie when the needle moves out to catch the yarn. If this timing is set wrong then the needle will come out too soon, or too late and will miss the yarn and that’s the end of the stitch. Generally speaking, I like the needle to be out just as it begins to come under the Yarn Carrier (on the leading side).

D – this screw and little indicator needle control when the rib needle FINISHES a stitch – ie when the needle pulls back inside the tappet/cams, closing the latch and slipping off the stitch.  For me, the needle begins to go inward just as it passes underneath the leaving end of the Yarn Carrier. If you look closely in the photo, you can see the rib needle on the left corner of the Yarn Carrier is almost in line with the tip of the carrier – and the yarn is within the hook of the needle and almost ready to make the stitch , while the rib needle to its right is still well out and has not yet begun to catch the yarn. If the timing is wrong here, your rib needle may pull in too soon and hit the bottom of the yarn carrier, and if it pulls in too late, it may not catch the yarn.

E is a vertical adjustment screw – this sets how high or low the ribber dial is in relation to the top edge of the cylinder. You can see at F that I’ve got about 1/8 inch gap. Your knitting has to pass between the cylinder and the ribber dial (the slotted bottom plate that holds the rib needles). If you set it too low, the knitting won’t flow through and your work will jam up. If you set it too high your rib needles will miss the yarn, or catch it too soon regardless of your timing, or – most likely- bash against your yarn carrier. (Ever wonder why the yarn carrier is shaped the way it is?  To let those pesky rib needles jump out and pull in with less risk of hitting it!)  If you are using different yarns with substantial difference in thickness, you may have to re-set this accordingly – but I find for most sock yarns I just leave it as it is set in the photo.

A good way to play with timing:

• take pictures of your current settings
• set up with a good size quantity of cheap scrap yarn (I use acrylic baby yarn)
• set E – your height,  have A in place, and B turned ON (IN work)
• fiddle with C and D until you get the rib needle beginning and ending stitches in harmony
• when feel good about how its going, take more pictures!

(In my photos I’m doing a 1 x 1 ribbing – and I have already pre-set my ribber so that the rib needles are as close to exactly-in-between the cylinder needles as can be. I’ll blog about that in a separate post.)

Here is a review of the main Sock Tops I use in my sock making. I do variations from time to time, but mostly one of these:

Basic Mock Rib.

This is my work horse topper – I’ve made thousands of these! Its a 3:1 mock rib (every 4th needle removed). The sample pic is done on a 54 needle cylinder, and 4 doesn’t divide evenly, so I have two sets of 4:1 – one on each outside side of the yellow hash marks. Where the two sets of 4:1 go doesn’t make a difference. But I’m a creature of habit.

My usual pattern is to knit 40 rows, replace the missing needles, knit two more rows and then hang the hem.

The first row after replacing the needles picks up the yarn, and the second row knits it. The fact that you have a row that doesn’t complete the knit leaves little holes, or as I call them, decorative features.

On my pattern scribbles, I write this top as:

40; NI; 2; HH (translation: 40 rows, Needles IN, 2 Rows, Hang Hem).

Alternate Mock Rib

This is another 3:1 mock rib, this time done on the 84 needle cylinder.

The only difference in this topper is that I pick up the missing stitches when I replace their needles. To pick up the stitch I simply grab the purl of an adjacent stitch and hang it over the empty needle. That gives the next round something to knit into, so there are no holes.

It gives a less casual finish which some prefer. I use it for a dressier sock or a finer yarn, or just for a change in pace. It is also 40 rows and I write it as:

40, NI P/U, 2, HH.      (P/U for Pick up stitches).

I could suffice with one row after the pick up instead of 2, but its that creature of habit thing again.

Humongous Mother Mock Rib

This is basically the same as the Alternate Mock Rib, but in this case I have knit 80 rows before replacing the missing needles. This sample is 3:1 knit at a loose tension on the 72 cylinder as the top of a knee sock. I pick up the stitches on this type of top, which I write down as”

80, NI, P/U, 2, HH.

Advantages of Mock Rib

A  mock rib hem top provides elasticity which will keep the socks up, but it does this without the use of purl stitches.

Purl stitches can be a source of discomfort for people with diabetes, skin conditions or sensitivies, and such. The top is also reversible – that is to say you can fold it down if you like and still have ‘good side’ showing.

It has a hand made and more decorative (IMO) look. I might add that I don’t find this the case with skimpy mock rib tops – 40 rows give a nice proportion to the rest of the sock, and unless its a fancy edged sock, I find the short tops to look chintzy. (Also all IMO!)

Disadvantages of Mock Rib

I find the mock rib doesn’t have as much ‘give’ as a knit-purl rib. So if you are pushing the limits of the size of the sock, it might be less desirable.

The mock rib is double thickness. So in something like a hiking boot or a ski boot, if the hem top happened to be overlapping the tight-top of the boot – it might be an issue.

Pico Top

The pico top is a variation of the basic mock rib top.

This sample is knit 2:1 mock rib on the 54 cylinder. I knit 10 rows, then transfer stitch 1 onto needle 2 of each pair, knit one row (the pico row) knit 8 more, replace the missing needles, knit 2 more rows, hang the hem. (In this sample I picked up the stitches when I replaced the missing needles – you can do it either way.)

The pico row picks up the yarn on the empty needles and the first row following completes the stitches – this leave a hole as in the Basic Sock. But when we knit an equal number of rows AFTER the pico round, those holes end up on the fold of the hung hem and that’s what makes the little picos.

One little trick I do on this kind of top – I normally knit with my heel spring in action full time. In pico tops I disengage the heel spring for row #10 at the beginning, and for the pico row. Then I re-engage it at the completion of the pico row. This looser tension will give more pronounced little pico bumps.

I write this as:

10 (9, SP OFF), Pico, SP ON,8, NI, 2, HH (or I may add P/U after NI)

Beaded Pico

This is EXACTLY the same as the Pico Top. But when I get to the transfer stitches step, I pull the yarn from the stitch that I am transferring through the hold of a bead with a fine crochet hook and then hang the stitch on the needle. This works on the 54 cylinder for me, and the fact that I have loosened the tention the row before the pico row gives me the extra stretch I need to work the beads.

The beads can also be added after the fact onto a basic Pico Top, which is what I do with the 72 cylinder – I find the needles to close together to accommodate most beads on that cylinder. (I have a detailed post on that somewhere – I think on my old blog.)

The beads in this pic are bigger than what I normally use – ‘pony bead’ size, and so in this case I also left the heel spring disengaged for one more round after the beads were placed. But normally, I would:

10, (9, SP OFF), Pico/bead, SP ON, 8, NI, 2 HH.

1 x 1 Ribbed Sock Top

This a basic knit one, purl one sock topper.

The sample is knit on the 72 needle cylinder with 36 slot ribber attached.

Starting with all needles in the cylinder and knitting with scrap yarn – I put the ribber on the knitter and place every other stitch off a cylinder needle onto a ribber needle, and remove the emptied needles as I go. When all the ribbing stitches are in place I knit a few rounds before beginning my sock yarn, just to make sure everything is hunkey dorey.

I knit 1 row with the ribber engaged, then I turn it off and knit one row, then I turn it back on and knit 25 rows.

The one row one, one off, then back on thing gives a good selvedge edge that doesn’t curl AND won’t unravel.

25 rows is arbitrary, but its what works for me. Like with the mock rib tops – I find too few rows just doesn’t look right.

Generally speaking, I switch to full stockinette after knitting the 1×1 topper. I rarely, if ever, knit with yarn that doesn’t have a high wool content, so I don’t need the extra elasticity of running, say, a 3 x 1 rib down the leg.  (But that’s not a topper issue anyway!)

R/O 1, R Off 1, R 25, knit

Advantages of a Ribbed Top

These tops have a lot of give, so a particular sock size would work for a broader range of folks, and in particular with a fuller leg size at the top end of a foot size range.

The top is a single layer of stitches thick, so more suitable for hiking or ski boots.

If knitting with low elasticity type yarns, this would give a better hold up – like cottons without elastic component, or (ugh) acrylics.

Disadvantages of a Ribbed Top

Unsuitable for people with pressure issues that come from purl stitches next to their skin.

To me the ribbed top is more ‘Sock’ than ‘Design Accessory’. I think this is in large measure because they look ‘machine made’ vs ‘hand made’. That being said – some guys folks don’t want design accessories on their feet!

Time wise, it takes a few minutes more to make – not significant – but if you drop a stitch you’re pretty much screwed as you can’t access the knitting with the ribber on top of the cylinder.

Addendum Aug 18 2010:

See this post for a 2 x 1 rib top done with the 36 ribber dial and 54 cylinder.