Bind off-for neck shaping-button up hoodie

How-to Questions
1

Hi
I am a novice knitter and I am confused on neck shaping for an open front sweater I am knitting.
I am un sure how to do this bind off (see pattern below).
I am knitting a simple Stockinette Stitch.

  1. Do I bind off knit side (3 sts) then purl back and bind off next knit row or do I skip that next knit row?

  2. Is every other row considered the knit side? or do you count the purl side too?

  3. How do I do reverse shaping…does that mean I start binding with a purl stitch?

DIRECTIONS

Neck shaping

Left front
Cast on 32 sts…ribbing 3” and then body…Stockinette until 17”

At front edge, bind off 3 sts once, then 4 sts every other row 3 times, then 2 sts every other row twice.
Work even on 13 sts if needed, until piece measures same as back to shoulders.
Bind off all sts.

Right front
Work to correspond to left front, reverse shaping

Thanks!

2

When a pattern refers to the left front, it means the left as you would wear the sweater. The bind off will be at the beginning of the row. For the left front you’re binding off on the purl side in stockinette st. Bind off 4sts on the purl row, knit the next row, bind off 4sts on the purl row, knit a row, bind off 4sts on the purl row and so on. All your bind offs are on the purl row which is at the beginning of the neck edge. For the right side of the sweater the shaping will be in the same sequence but all the bind offs will be at the beginning on knit rows.

3

Thanks…I now understand the reverse shaping.
But…
Is this right ?? If the pattern says “once then every other row” it means bind off on purl row, knit next row, bind off on purl row, knit next row, bind off on purl row…etc…Is that considered every other row?

4

Yes, bind off on the purl rows and the knit rows are the alternate rows in this case.

5

For the left front you’re binding off on the purl side in stockinette st

No, for the L front the BO at the beg of the row would be the knit row in stockinette. For the R front you’d do the BOs on the WS purl rows.

Then yes, every other row puts the rest of the BOs on the knit side too.

6

But for the neck shaping, I think it’s on the purl row?

7

Thought I got it but now am a little confused…
All the BO on the R Front are knit.
All the BO on the L Front are purl.
or is it the reverse???

Will I be able to tell which side to knit and which to purl when I reach the BO row?

:knitting:

8

It depends on if you’re binding off for the armholes or the neck. And I guess it was talking about the neck.

L front - BO on the knit rows for the armholes, and on the purl rows for the neck.
R front - BO on the purl rows for the armholes and the knit rows for the neck.

And you should be able to read your knitting by then - the knit side sts will look like Vs, the purl side sts will be bumps.