How to Knit Fisherman’s Rib

Back in 2021 I knit a fisherman’s rib scarf for my daughter’s teacher, and the post about it was one of the most popular on my blog last year.

So I’ve been thinking about fisherman’s rib in order to share more content about it, and I thought I would share some of my findings with you.

First, fisherman’s rib is worked by knitting into the row below. What this does is it pulls the yarn from that stitch up as you work it, making the stitches extra thick and squishy. It’s different from brioche, though it looks similar, but the texture of brioche comes from yarn overs worked together with stitches to give them more heft.

If you need help learning the technique, there’s a great video from Heidi at Hands Occupied on YouTube you can check out.

Fisherman’s rib, like other ribbing stitches, is non-curling and made my alternating knits and purls. It’s worked on an odd number of stitches when worked flat or an even number when worked in the round. It’s super stretchy horizontally so you’ll want to use a stretchy cast on and bind off so that the stitch can stretch as much as it wants to (especially if you are using it for cuffs, the leg of a sock or a hat band).

The trickiest part when it comes to knitting fisherman’s rib is increasing or decreasing in the stitch, as you would want to do if you were finishing the top of a hat. Some patterns switch from fisherman’s rib to regular ribbing when shaping needs to take place (you can also do decreases on a larger needle so the stitches are still somewhat large compared to regular ribbing). This is shown in this hat pattern from Work 4 Idle Hands, for example.

I found a video from Garn Studio showing how to work multiple stitches into one knit stitch for Fisherman’s Rib, which could be a good option if you’re working a hat from the top down, for example. Their method involves working a yarn over and going into the same stitch again, which gives you the knit and purl stitches for the next row.

I’ve definitely going to experiment with shaping in Fisherman’s Rib and would love to hear if you have a technique you use for it!

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

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