Technical Knitting Know-How #1: Versatile Seed Stitch

What uses only knits and purls, yet creates a fabulous textured fabric? Seed stitch!

I like this pattern so much, I used it for a big dish towel in cotton yarn.

Interesting tidbit: Seed stitch and ribbing have the same pattern over a single row. Alternating knit and purl stitches make a row of "dots and dashes" or purl bumps and flat knit loops. Also interesting is that the back of a purl stitch is a knit stitch and the back of a knit stitch is a purl stitch. To create seed stitch, you stack purl stitches on top of knit stitches and knit stitches on top of purl stitches. Thus the bumps and flat stitches alternate vertically as well as horizontally, making a fabric that is reversible.

To create ribbing, you stack the knit stitches on top of each other and the purl stitches on top of each other, creating vertical columns of knit stitches on either side. The purl stitches recede behind the knit stitches, creating ribs on the back side that match the ribs on the other side. Like this:

Pattern for seed stitch on an odd number of stitches: Every row: (K1,P1) to last stitch. K1.
Pattern for 1x1 ribbing on an even number of stitches: Every row: (K1,P1)

I hope you enjoy learning more about why knitting patterns are written as they are and why some stitches are reversible (garter, seed, ribbing.)