Corrugated Ribbing

To start with, it's an absolutely ridiculous name. Ribbing is corrugated by definition, and corrugated ribbing is actually LESS corrugated than regular ribbing. But no one consulted me in the naming, so I'm moving on.

Corrugated ribbing is ribbing done in two colors, the knit columns in one color and the purl columns in another color. Given that one strand of yarn is doing all the knitting and another all the purling in each row, it has none of the elasticity of regular ribbing. That said, it should be as pliable as regular textured ribbing. When used as the edging for a sock or cuff edge, you want something with quite a bit of stretch to come before it. A rolled edge works really nicely, and fortunately, that's what my pattern called for.

Three rows into the required fifteen rows of corrugated ribbing, my head was about to explode from the tedium of switching colors while switching the yarn from front to back between knitting and purling. I tried holding the yarn in different hands, picking with one and throwing with the other. The end result was lumpy, irregular, and overall displeasing. What to do? Consult the TechKnitter, of course!

My initial reaction to the suggestion of multi-pass knitting was that it would be even more tedious, since you're doubling the number of rows that you work. But because each row is just slip-knit or purl-slip, it went by quickly, and I was quite pleased with the result. See?