Twisted knitting

Currently, I am knitting a beanie for my father because he has a low tolerance for cold weather. Granted we live in a tropical climate, it has been a little chilly for the past few days and his office keeps a low temperature regardless of weather. I knew I would have to find a pattern that is ‘manly’, and that took me a while. I considered knitting a simple garter or stockinette stitch beanie, but, fortunately, I have found a pattern that I think he’ll like. I am following the pattern Fluffy Brioche Hat by Purl Soho.

As far as yarn shopping, I realized I don’t have much choice around Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I came across a store that seemed like it may have wool yarn and I was right! Arts and Crafts is a craft store with knitting and crochet tools, as well as yarn, in the second floor of Sultan mall. I bought 3x50g balls of Katia Merino Super sport which is 98% merino wool and 2% polyester. I was way too excited to come across something made of majority wool that I didn’t notice it is a rather chunky yarn. The Purl Soho patterns uses extra fine merino wool. Anyway, I have cast on the beanie and knit a few rows of twisted ribbing. I like the look of this rim and I thought it would be a good idea to record how it is knit.

It is commonly known that ribbing makes for an easy and flat rim to a knit fabric. However, if you rib the typical way, i.e. cast on an even number of stitches, then knit 1 stitch, purl 1 stitch till the end of the row and repeat for all rows (when knitting in the round), the ribbing might not look neat. Hence, if neatness is a priority there is another way to knit 1×1 ribbing and the pattern is as follows: