Bottom up decrease to match top down increase

I am knitting a top-down raglan sleeve sweater, using Barbara Walker’s double increase #2 (k1, yo, k1) in the seam stitch. I needed to make the neckline smaller, so I knitted bottom-up, in effect, for an inch. I tried to match the original increase pattern with a double decrease, and it looks OK, but it is not an exact match.

Which leads me to a general question for “next time.” Is there a reference with matching top-down/bottom-up stitches? Or even, how to make a decrease that compliments a yo increase.

Is there anyone else who is interested in this concept? On other occasions, I have found a stitch pattern that I like that has a definite top and bottom, and is written for bottom-up. Top-down knitting makes so much more sense to me, but I don’t understand how to do the conversion.

Thank you – a knitter in Davenport, Iowa

I don’t even understand the concept of knitting down and then up…or up and then down…without having picked up stitches etc… hopefully someone may offer some illumination on your issue! I guess the default position is always to contact the designer and pose…

It’s always good to get some feedback to help me understand how to clarify my original posting! Thank you, Susan P.

Clarification of original posting:
My two favorite sweater reference books are Barbara Walker’s “Knitting from the Top” and Jacqueline Fee “The Sweater Workshop”. I prefer B Walker’s top-down approach to knitting sweaters over J Fee’s bottom-up approach. I design my own sweaters, and I also like to draw upon many sources.

Most sources present stitch patterns for knitting bottom-up, and I would like to understand how to convert them to knitting top-down. So my particular question is, does anyone have the stitch recipe for a double decrease that matches B. Walker’s double increase #2 (k1, yo, k1) in a “seam stitch” – or – does anyone know of a reference that shows how to obtain similar results when knitting top-down vs bottom-up?

Thirdly – is anyone else interested in this knitting challenge?

With the sweater that I needed to tighten up the neckline, I had started top-down with a provisional cast on because I am going to add a fold-over, lacy collar. So it was no problem to go back to the provisional cast on and knit “up”; the problem was that I could not match the raglan increase when I was decreasing. I got it to look similar, but not exact. The fold-over collar will cover it, so it’s OK; but for future knitting, I would like to understand how to do this.

I can’t answer your question…sorry! But I am very curious also
as to how this is done as I have been wanting to try knitting from
the top-down but just can’t make sense of how to do it and have it
look properly. Hopefully someone knows!
Libbie :slight_smile:

I really don’t think there is a double decrease that looks like the k1,yo,k1 increase because of the yo. The Fee book shows several ways of doing the DD, but they’re different combinations of the same decs. Maybe the closest would be ssk/k2tog. This is something I think you’ll need to experiment with and see which way you like better.

Hi,

I realise this is an old conversation but I had a very similar question today trying to match a decrease for a top down m1l and I found an excellent resource on Nimble needles https://nimble-needles.com/stitches/knitting-decreases-the-ultimate-list/ with excellent photos so you can match your choice of bottom up decrease to your top down increase pattern instruction by the effect and look in the knitting fabric.

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Welcome and thank you for the very useful link!