Armhole shaping part of my pattern

How-to Questions
1

I am not sure what I am doing wrong, but I am following the pattern as written, but my armholes are not the same. Could the Pattern be incorrect? I begin with 45 sts. Here is the pattern:

Row 1: Bind off 2, k3, YO *slip 1, k2tog, PSSO, k3, YO, k1, YO, k3-rep from * 3(4,5,) times, slip 1, k2tog, PSSO, YO, k to end

Row 2: Bind off 2, p across

Row 3: Bind off 1, K2, YO, *slip 1, k2tog, PSSO, k3, YO, k1, YO, k3-rep from * 3(4,5,) times, slip 1, k2tog, PSSO, YO, k to end.

Row 4: Bind off 1, p across-39 (49,59) sts.

*Row 5: K3, YO, *slip1, k2tog, PSSO, k3, YO, k1, YO, k3-rep from * 3 (4,5,) times, slip 1, k2tog, PSSO, YO, k to end.

Row 6: P across

Rep from * 11 (13,15) times in all.

and this is what it looks like now (with just 2 workings of row 5 and 6):

2

If you began with 45 stitches you should have 39 when you finish row 4.

Row 1 binds off 2, 45-2=43
Row 2 binds off 2, 43-2=41
Row 3 binds off 1, 41-1=40
Row 4 binds off 1, 40-1=39

3 bound off on each side.

Then you do rows 5 and 6 and those don’t decrease any. I worked row 5 over the 39, rather than have to think to much :slight_smile: and it changes nothing. Then it says to repeat from the *. I’m assuming that would be the * before row 5 (*Row 5:). So you only have the even decreases that you do on rows 1-4 and the rest are rows that don’t decrease at all.

Usually they take a little off at each underarm, equally on each end and then continue even. That is what happens here.

3

The center motifs line up well. But not the edges. On row 1 you should have 5 stitches-where it says “k to end”. On row2-which is a WS purl row, you are supposed to bind off 2. Looking at the photo, you didn’t start the left side bind offs there. Instead you worked the bulk of the decreases only on the knit RS rows.

You need to frog back to row 2 & start from there.

4

Just wanted to add, it is an easy mistake to make. We are mentally condition to expect all the “action” to happen on the RS rows. And to just purl along on the WS.

But with shaping you need to bind off on both sides. Obviously you can’t bind off at the end of the knit row. Otherwise, the yarn wouldn’t be in the correct position to continue the row. So armhole shaping is done at the start of each row. Both RS & WS.

5

I have decided to rip until the start of the instructions and start over with all your suggestions. I think you are right and I am doing more to the RS rows than the WS rows.
One last question, if it says to Bind off on the purl row, do I bind off with purl stitch or is it always Knit stitch to bind off?

6

No bind off with the purl stitch. A BO (full row or just a few stitches) is really working in pattern except that the sts are not left on the R needle, so if you knit those sts on the purl side, they’ll show as knits on the RS.

7

Rule of thumb is to bind off with the same stitches you would use as if you were continuing with the pattern. Some patterns will even say “bind off in pattern” to describe this. For stockinette, you bind off in knit on the RS. And in purl on the WS.