In stitches II: the stockinette family

Clockwise: plain stockinette, reverse stockinette, twisted stockinette and crossed stockinette. Note: unfortunately the yarn I've used for these samples has quite a lot of twist, and this has the result that stockinette stitch, as well as the other ones, has a different appearance from the normal one,   namely, it looks twisted while twisted and crossed stockinette look almost identical, this would not be the case with another yarn.

The stockinette family of stitches consists of 4 different stitches stockinette, or stocking stitch reverse stockinette twisted stockinette crossed stockinette What all these stitches have in common is that, when knitting flat, they all consist of alternate rows of knits and purls; they result in a very plain fabric, with minimum texture; and they all curl! Twisted and crossed stockinette stitch result in a fabric that is slightly more firm (less elastic), and more tense (tighter gauge) than plain stockinette. I'm sure you already know all there is to know about the first two stitches in the stockinette family, but just for completeness: reverse stockinette is simply the wrong side of plain stockinette, so both these stitches are knitted in the same way. It can be argued, that, with some practice, slipping the needle purlwise in order to knit through the back loop is actually easier and faster than doing it knitwise as in the standard knit stitch. Therefore, twisted stockinette knitted flat and crossed stockinette knitted in the round are quite easy to execute. This makes these stitches a good alternative to plain stockinette, specially if you'd like to make something slightly unusual, but not too striking, with minimum effort. One last remark, the yarn you use, more precisely the way it is or not twisted, can have a great impact in the way the simple stitches of the stockinette family look like. Even for such a simple stitch, making a swatch before embarking on a project is important, not only to get your gauge, but also to make sure you like the appearance of the knitted fabric.

Stockinette (plain and reverse) flat Odd rows: knit, Even rows: purl. in the round Knit (or purl) every stitch. Crossed Stockinette flat Odd rows: knit through the back loop, Even rows: purl. in the round Odd rounds: knit (or purl) through the back loop, Even rounds: knit (or purl). Twisted Stockinette flat Odd rows: knit through the back loop, Even rows: purl through the back loop. in the round knit (or purl) every stitch through the back loop. If you find purling through the back loop as cumbersome as I do, there is a neat trick to simplify the crossed stockinette stitch knitted flat. Instead of purling through the back loop, do the following: Odd rows: knit through the back loop wrapping the yarn around the needle in the opposite direction, Even rows: making sure that the loops on the needle are twisted, purl through the front loop.