Ribbing

I don't usually knit a sample for ribbing when I'm designing knitwear. But entrelac widens knitting considerably, so whereas ribbing usually has a similar stitch count to the main part, in entrelac knitting the ribbing will have a lot more stitches than the main part. How many more? I don't know unless I knit a swatch. I cast on 20 stitches and worked 10 rows knit one, purl one rib and then took the swatch off the needles without casting off. First I measured the swatch completely relaxed and worked out how many stitches I'd need to get the length I want - 200 stitches. Then I stretched the swatch as much as possible, measured it and worked out how many stitches I'd need to get the same length - 133. So I need somewhere between 133 and 200 stitches. I settled for 180 stitches, so the ribbing will be slightly stretched.

When I was designing knitwear regularly, I used to keep some aspects constant, just to simplify life. For instance, ribbings were usually 16 rows. So I kept to that here, reducing to 120 stitches on the 16th row. I'm using a circular needle to accommodate a lot of stitches, even though I'm working back and forth. Now for the entrelac....