This is a 2 x 1 rib topper done with the 54 needle cylinder on the Legare 400.
I don’t have a 27 slot ribber dial, so can’t easily do a 1 x 1, but with the 36 slot dial using every other slot I can knit a 2 x 1. I first read mention of this at angoravalley.com, and again more recently at Ask the Bellwether.
Setting up for this knit I can either mount the ribber and transfer stitches before knitting, or, set up with scrap yarn in a 2 x 1 mock rib, mount the ribber, and let it pickup the stitches on its own.
The advantage of the latter – if I drop a ribber stitch it can only run as far as the mock rib – ie not all the way into another sock that is still on the machine! The mock rib plays Defense!
So here I’ve set up my 2 x 1 mock rib. You can see sock #1 of the pair below the scrap, safely protected ;o)
And now, with scrap yarn still in work, I set the ribber onto the kniter and begin placing my rib needles into every other slot. I begin as near to the red hash mark as possible, and make sure that the first rib needle lines up with the first empty cylinder slot.
Here I’ve now begun to knit around. You can see the yarn has ‘caught’ on the ribber needles beyond the red hash mark. As I crank around, the remaining ribber needles should also catch the yarn. (Sometimes it takes more than one turn to catch them all – no problem, we’re still working in scrap yarn.)
On the second pass, the rib needles complete their stitch. Knitting a few extra rows in scrap will ensure that everything is hunky-dorey.
When I begin knitting with the sock yarn, I start at the right Red Hash Mark and knit around to about 6 o’clock position. Then I raise up out of work the FIRST needle in each pair of cylinder needles. In this photo I’ve just begun that. Then I will advance my yarn carrier forward, and continue raising the first needle of each pair.
Knit TWO ROWS this way.
This little routine will make a selvage so you don’t have to weave the top stitches closed.
Stop before completing the second row, say at 6 o’clock, and place the raised needles back down into work. BE CAREFUL that the latches on these needles stay open!
Now this is when I actually begin to count my rows of knitting for however long I want this topper to be. At that point I put the missing cylinder needles back into the cylinder and transfer the rib stitches to them – then motor on.
This machine boggles my mind. Do you ever wonder who the genius was that invented the sock knitting machine? I think you are a genius for being able to do so many amazing things with your sock machines. And you SING, too? You’re my hero.
Wow,
I was just thinking about the selvage,that’s a great way to do it,my first try with the same combo,all came unraveled as I thought it would behave the same as the 1-1 rib.
Oh well,I did learn what froging was.
Gil
I think the most important part of this method is that you raise the FIRST needle of each pair, not the second, or this will unravel.
I’m of the mind to try knitting ONE round instead of TWO with the one needle of each pair raised to see if it makes a difference – I presume it should, otherwise why do two in the first place – but I’d like to confirm that.
This selvage give a fairly nice finish – not quite as crisp as the 1 x 1 with the 72/36 for me, but still very decent.
I am truly amazed the the ingenuity of our forefathers (and foremothers!).
I have a 1930′s sickle mower that I use for clipping pastures – another piece of brilliance that pre-dates design software. Like the antique knitters, a paradox of simplicity and complexity, that does the job it was designed to do.
For my part, I’m just a monkey-see, monkey-do kind of guy who has benefited from the wisdom and patience of others (but thanks for the kind words ;o) ).