I am trying to make swatches for my BBB Crs and I CANNOT make ribbing that makes me happy. Even if I S-L-O-W-L-Y rib English style, tightening each switch from K to P, the results are not even and I am miserable. I have always felt like my ribbing was looser and not as pretty as other patterns, especially Continental ribbing with Norwegian purling (I simply can't purl ordinary Continental style)but even my English ribbing seems unsatisfactory for grading. What to do? How to improve? S

Sometimes we are just TOO hard on ourselves. Cup of tea, Relax, most times when we try too hard we are tense and it shows in our knitting. Not sure of the rules but perhaps a change in the size of your needles or yarn would help. I'm sure it will get better as you practice. Relax. Let us know how you are doing. We Care. Grace, Love and Prayers. God Bless.

First of all relax. What yarn are you using? Sometimes that contributes to the problem. You may just be overthinking the whole thing. It is probably better that you think.

Arenda

My suggestion would be to NOT knit and purl slowly, but to try to work at your natural speed. This will help you to develop a rythmn that should make for better, more even, knitting. I always end up ripping out when I work outside of my natural working speed, either too fast or too slow. If you develop the habit of tugging on the yarn as you go from knit to purl while at the same time working at regular speed, I'll bet your ribbing will look better.
That being said, you don't want to know how many times I ripped out various swatches that I worked on for the Masters Handknitting level 1!
Hope this helps.
Diana

I also have trouble with ribbing when I knit Continental or American style, but when I switch to Combined (eastern uncrossed) the results are much more even. As a bonus, the stitches present themselves effortlessly in the correct position to do alternate knits and purls, so the ribbing goes quickly and smoothly.

I believe that the reason has to do with the Combined purls traveling a shorter distance, thereby using less yarn and making them closer to the size of the knit stitches. It's worth a try.