Quaker Ridging

            Now I know very little about Quakers other than this dude  who fuels my morning porridge is one (as far as i know he's a random man dressed like a Quaker) this is likely because the number of Quakers in the UK is 17,000 or around 0.0003% of the population, my odds of meeting one are pretty low. Maybe some of you amur'cans know a little more (yes I see you! I have the power of the almighty stats page!) Whomever they are and whatever they are like the Quakers have got one thing going for them:
They named the most changeable knitting stitch in the world.

Seriously half the time the "Quaker Ridging" looks nothing like the original pattern, because it's whole row purl welts across stockinette even the most amateur knitter can change this pattern. You could change the thickness of the welts, change the frequency of the welts change the order of thick or thinner welts, the possibilities my friends are pretty much endless. Also it's a super easy pattern takes no time to knit up at all.

This time around I'm only doing one picture no close up is necessary you'll just see knit and purl stitches, if you want to see that go to my stockinette stitch it's pretty obvious, and if you want to see more of that hot purl welt action look at the escalator stitch.

(Ohh! look you can see my handwriting)

          

Swatch is as follows - 4ply - 2.5mm needles - 30st x 37st - Long tail CON - Surprisingly stretchy COFF

           

            Okay some of the more observant of you may have noticed those metal thingies that are in the corners/ on the edges of all my swatches; they are brads (aka split pins) they hold the swatch in a physical book where I have written the pattern and notes about it, I personally started this because it's nice to touch a physical copy of a stitch as you can get to know it better before using it for a project, anyway back to the brads you may have noticed an extra one in top center, this is because this stitch CURLS. A LOT. Anything you make out of this will need a border and/or blocking to lie flat, this is due to stockinette natural curl being encouraged further by the welts. 

            The pattern is simply a 1 row welt followed by a 3 row welt, the pattern is easily changeable if you want thicker welts increase the number of rows if you want thin knit fewer rows, if you want thick then thin just swap them around. Experiment with it, it's a very easy pattern to change.

Pattern for the specific 1 welt then 3 welt worked flat:

Rows 1,3,5 - *K*

Rows 2 & 4 - *P*

Row 6 - *K*

Rows 7,9,11 - *K*

Rows 8 & 10 - *P*

Row 12 - *K*

Row 13 - *P*

Row 14 - *K*

            Well that was easy to write, and it's just as simple to knit or edit. Also do you see? I finally figured out the title formatting what a bloody nightmare now the archive should work properly and people can navigate the blog easier. Happy Knitting!

Now here's a picture of a Quaker with a cat.