Why knit fisherman's rib?
Fisherman's rib is a lovely way to give some interest to cuffs and bands where you'd usually use single or double ribbing.
The idea of this interesting ribbing is to make a thicker fabric. And in that respect came from a desire to make knitwear to keep the body warmer.
Fisherman's rib is recognised as an older traditional pattern and was probably created for fisherman's jumpers... I mean surely that's the original root of the naming!
As an interesting digress... the cabled jumpers that are frequently referred to as Aran knitwear come from the tradition of Irish knitters from the Aran Islands. They created thick cabled jumpers to keep warm over the winter and primarily on the fishing boats and the Aran Islands is one of the places from which cabled knitting originates.
The techniques want to achieve a similar result, but use different method of producing the thicker fabric.
Back to the Fisherman's rib then!
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Don't Let Fisherman's Rib Confuse You!
A part of knitting that we all need to be aware of, is that so many of us are taught from so many different sources. Because of that we may learn different terms for the same technique. This is the time where I'll emphasise that you need to read the pattern first and foremost.
When you watch videos or read books you may find two differing versions of Fisherman's rib.
One is full Fisherman's, one is half Fisherman's. But the half is sometimes called Fisherman's and it's then that the finer details of the individual rows in your pattern that will let you know which you're doing.
You'll be able to tell from your pattern which is the one you need.
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