Pleats on a Passap

I've had a hankering to make a pleated skirt for a while, so I dug out a Passap pattern (so as to let the motor do all the hard work, haha!) and tried making some samples. The red acrylic I first tried was too thick, so went for a cotton in a greeny-blue. The swatch looked ok when knitted with orange strippers (usually used for double-bed work). However, the pattern calls for the black strippers (despite the fact there's stitches on both beds).

Wasn't sure which cast on to use. The pattern recommends a 1x1 cast on which is then rearranged - this involved hanging the purl loops on the other side of the bed and was quite time-consuming. Knitted at T6, as called for in the pattern, it was so loose it was only knitting properly 70% of the time, so lots of holes and dropped stitches. T4 seemed more suitable. I need to do more swatching, methinks. Takes forever to rearrange the stitches because the pattern uses the whole width of the bed.

The needle arrangement was something like:

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These are mock pleats. I really wanted something that would make the material fall into zigzags.

Another Passap tip: anything knitted at a certain tension with the orange strippers, should be knitted at least one whole number looser with the black strippers.

I'll have another go tonight, when the only pressing thing to do is be sociable and watch some more Star Trek with the Cog. Perhaps I should try a needle arrangement from the Mary Weaver Skirts book, it might be more "pleaty". New word!

I need to knit another trekking sock in the pastel yarn, and then I want to make a pair in the primary coloured yarn. Leastways, that's the plan... my fingers seem to be aching today, not sure if that's from too much surfing, too much knitting or something I did down the gym by mistake.