swatches for February's red scarf...

side away

I'm getting ready for the February ribber scarf and I'm trying to do this in a progressive learning order - forgive me if you know all this...;-) 

side facing

My swatches (15-0-15 ns) are royal Bramwell Sable Crepe MT -  would be T5 stockinette; light jade Tamm Perla MT -  would be T4 stockinette. The light jade swatch - there is only one - I photo-ed it from both sides to show the difference - I started off with waste yarn and 2 rows circular ravel cord (red).  RC000. The cast-on hem is circular, T4/6, so the first 2 rows I did at T8/10 so I could do the same to the cast-on side as the cast-off end (from last scarf) and then did 8 rows circular at T4/6. RC010. Set to tuck one way - knit to left, tuck to right on main bed, rib bed knits both ways (Silver Reed manual calls this English Rib; brother calls it half fisherman rib - side away will be the right side, making a squat, purly rib). T4/4, knit 20 rows. Cancel the tuck and knit 2 rows full needle rib/zigzag to make a separating line. RC032. Now, set the machine to do the same thing but opposite - how's that for an oxymoron? - I mean, tuck one way on the rib bed - likely your manual makes no mention of this, but set the rib bed to tuck one way (check your manual for the circular setting for the ribber and then add tuck in one direction - Silver, set pick knob to tuck/inverted U; brother use tucking lever up; and main bed to knit both ways). Same stitch size, knit 20 rows. (This one looks the same as English rib but the side facing is the right side.) Cancel tuck and knit two zigzag rows. RC054.
Now go for fisherman's rib, which is one way tuck setting on both beds, so when the main bed is knitting, the ribber is tucking and vice versa. (Fisherman's rib looks the same on both sides and really bulks up the fabric because of the double tucks - use if you have a very thin yarn and you want a thicker or wider fabric.) Knit 20 rows (RC074) and then finish off with 8 rows circular, T4/6, 2 rows T8/10 (RC084), 2 rows ravel cord, 20 rows circular waste yarns, zigzag 2 rows to close up the end to make it easier to steam... break yarn and drop from machine.
Now, look at your swatch and compare. I can see right off that the circular hem won't work because it is narrower than the tucked portions - you won't be able to tell, but the full fisherman's rib on top is quite a bit wider than either of the bottom two methods of English rib. The circular hem at the top end is restricting the width.
Now, make the same swatch but use full needle rib for the hem portions...
Royal blue. Waste yarn in zigzag. circular ravel cord. RC000. Main yarn,  H5, T1/1, K1R. Rack to H4, T2/2, K1R. Rack back to H5, T3/3, K1R. This makes the racked cast-on/finished edge. T4/4, K1R.
T5/5, follow the 3 variations for above to RC074 and end with zigzag, T4/4, K1R. T3/3, K1R. T8/8, K1R. Yes, the last row is zigzag. Change to circular, ravel cord, K2R. Waste yarn, K20R, zigzag, 2 rows...
NOTE: ribber carriage set 2 full numbers looser/higher than the main bed only applies to circular knitting - Full needle ribs generally have same stitch number on both beds.
You might need to dig out that close knit /fine knit bar - it's a narrow plastic strip that came with your ribber - it is inserted under the front of the main bed needles and helps the tucked stitches knit off when using a fine yarn and a tuck stitch - if the tucked stitches are not knitting off properly, you probably need it (or your tension/stitch size may be too tight).
If you need some more help with these, I did a skirt back in KW#34, called the 'Boho' skirt - check it out! The idea was to make use of the grading width of the stitch techniques to create a flared skirt without a lot of increasing or decreasing.

I think I got an extra row or so on my cast-on edge that is not necessary but I'm pretty happy with the comparison of the cast-on and cast-off for looks and stretchiness. I need to look at these swatches and evaluate - I won't use all three of the techniques because of the thickness/width thing, but maybe switch back and forth between the first two...I'll write up the full pattern for next week...you could plan something too...