Moss Stitch

            Seed stitches long lost twin. Or maybe seed stitch is the lost one given moss stitch is so often confused with it! This is probably down to the fact that we Brits called seed stitch moss stitch first and american moss stitch, double moss stitch. This caused further confusion when talking about american double moss stitch. So to avoid any confusion we're using the american name scheme which is far less confusing. This stitch is called moss stitch the previous stitch is seed stitch and the next one is double seed/moss stitch. If you see British moss stitch anywhere that's actually seed stitch and American moss stitch is moss stitch. Easy right?! :S
            I tell you sometimes knitting names schemes are as bad as Tolkien, between Fingol, Fingolfin and Finarfin no wonder no one reads the Simarillion.

           
            Right confusion name schemes aside, moss stitch is probably the most popular or commonly used broken rib pattern. But wait! I hear you cry. What is a broken rib pattern?! It is a pattern that uses a rib-type pattern as it's base (ie 1x1 ribbing is k1,p1) and then intentionally "breaks" the pattern either by offsetting a row or two or putting in rows that have nothing to do with the original ribbing pattern simple right?
            Most basic broken ribs tend to shift a row over by one or two this creates little purl bumps as you end up with purls over knits and knits over purls (as in seed stitch) Moss stitch is a more elongated version of this most basic break introducing it a row later and keeping it a row longer, meaning the knit stitches take more prominence compared to seed stitch where the purl nubs are the star of the show.
            Moss stitch like it's sister stitch is a pretty labor intensive stitch as you have to switch yarn positions every stitch meaning it can take a while to knit up although it again has a pleasing and reversible texture ideal to borders (plus there are still nubs!)

An overview of moss stitch as you can see it's much less dense than seed stitch.

A closeup of moss stitch, you can see the individual broken ribs in the knit stitches here (2 V's lined up close together)

Swatch is as follows: 4 Ply -2.5mm needles - 30st x 40 st - double loop CON - Surprisingly Stretchy COFF - Worked flat

Moss stitch is the same as seed stitch but the swap happens every other row
CON EVEN number of st

Rows 1 & 2: *K1,P1* 

Rows 3 & 4: *P1,K1*

It is worked exactly the same in the round (on even st) but the swap happens after rows 1 & 3 instead of 2 & 4. More broken rib patterns next time! If you know how to cable these are all great for pointing up cables! Or if you're mad knit something completely out of it to have a reversible object. Happy knitting! Oh and since I missed it (was too busy knitting funnily enough) Happy World Wide knit in public day!