Bumble bee sweater

General Knitting
1

I am working away on this sweater :XX: I have the back and two fronts done. I am now beginning on the sleeves and am trying to make out the pattern. It reads:

When piece measures 2 1/4: increase 1 stitch at each end of needle on a RS row. Work the same set of increases, every 6 rows, until you have increased a total of: 2 rows. :wall:

Then increase 1 stitch at each end of needle every 4 rows: 10 times.

What I think this means is that I am going to increase 2 stitches on the first of the six rows and then another 2 stitches at the beginning of the second 6 rows.
Then 2 stitches on the first of every 4th row after that 10 times.

I didn’t quite understand what it meant to increase every 6 rows until you have increased a total of 2 rows.

Hope someone can help!

2

That is an odd way of putting it. Maybe it means to do the 6-row increase twice?

It looks like you do the first increase, then do it again 6 rows later and yet again 6 rows after that. Then increase every 4 rows 10 times.

3

For Size 2: Increase at each end on the following rows: 1, 7, 11, 15, 19, …, 47. After doing the initial increase and the additional pair that comes 6 rows later, you’ll have 31 sts (and have completed 2 rows of increases). Then, after doing 10 more pairs of increases, you’ll have 51 sts, as the pattern requires.

For Size 4: Increase at each end on the following rows: 1, 7, 13, 17, 21, …, 61. After doing the intial increase and the additional 2 pairs of that come every 6 rows, you’ll have 35 sts (and have completed 3 rows of increases). Then, after doing 12 more pairs of increases, you’ll have 59 sts, as the pattern requires.

4

Thanks Jackie

I thought that was what it was telling me, just needed some reassurance.

Thanks

5

I am now on the sleeve of the bumble bee sweater. I am ready to do the sleeve cap. It says to bind off 4 stitches at the beginning of the next two rows and bind off 3 stitches the following 2 rows.
My question is keeping in pattern with the butterfly stitch, do I count the adjusting beginning stitches as part of the bind off stitches? I have knitted and reknitted several times and it just doesn’t seem to be working.

6

Yes, you’ve got it right – subtract the BO sts (and any future decrease sts) from each end of pattern to keep it aligned. Since you’ve got 3 extra sts at each end already (for a Size 2), after BO 4 you’ll then have one less st at each end of the pattern. Be careful though because when you bind off the 4th stitch, you’ll end up with the 5th stitch on your right needle and will need to count this toward the pattern sts.

For a Size 2, here’s what I ended up with:
You’ll have 4 butterflies after the first four rows of butterfly stitch pattern. Then you’ll have 3 butterflies after rows 7-10 and 2 butterflies after rows 1-4 (when the pattern starts over again).

7

Thanks Jackie!

I did get the four butterflies after the first four rows. Then that is when I ran into trouble. I will give it a try again. Thanks for all the help.

8

Jackie:

I am completely confused.

On the sleeve cap did you bind off on rows 5 and six and then rows 7 and 8? I am just not getting this. I get the 4 butterflies on the first 4 rows. Then when I try and bind off I can’t get the 3 butterflies to be centered. Aren’t they suppose to be in between the 4 butterflies? I don’t want to give up. Help!!

9

Sorry for the large picture. I not very good at computers either.

10

Hi again :lol:! You can’t stop now!! Here’s what I worked out for the pattern if you start the BO on Row 5 as you suggested (BTW, I think that’s about where I started the BO.). If it’s difficult to read and/or you want to print a readable copy, I attached a WordPad file of it which just needs to be unzipped. :wink:

Sleeve Cap for Size Two:
Row 5: BO 4, knit to end (=47 sts)

Row 6: BO 4, purl to end (=43 sts)

Row 7: BO 3, K5; K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SKP, K5 (twice); K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SKP; K9 (=40 sts)

Row 8: BO 3, P5; P2, sl 1 P-wise, P7 (twice); P2, sl 1 P-wise; P8 (=37 sts)

Row 9: Dec 1, K4; K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SKP, K5 (twice); K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SKP; K4, dec1. (=35 sts)

Row 10: P5, P2, sl 1 P-wise, P7 (twice); P2, sl 1 P-wise, P2; P5 (=35 sts)

Row 11: Dec1, knit to last 2 sts, dec 1. (=33 sts)

Row 12: BO 2, purl to end. (=31 sts)

Row 1 (starting patt again): BO 2, K6; K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SKP, K5 (twice); K2 (=29 sts)

Row 2: BO 3, P5, sl 1 P-wise, P2; P7, sl 1 P-wise, P2 (once); P7 (=26 sts)

Row 3: BO 3, K3; K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SKP, K5 (once); K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SKP; K4 (=23 sts)

Row 4: BO 3, P2, sl 1 P-wise, P2; P7, sl 1 P-wise, P2 (once); P4 (=20 sts)

Row 5: BO 3, knit to end (=17 sts)

Row 6: BO 3, purl to end (=14 sts)

Row 7: BO 3, knit to end (=11 sts)

Row 8: BO rem 11 sts[size=6][/size][size=7][/size][color=darkred][/color][color=darkred][/color][color=darkred][/color]

11

How did it go? Did your sleeves turn out?

12

Jackie:

I got the sleeves done thanks to your wonderful instructions. Still not sure how you deciphered the pattern. When I get this sweater done, I am going to sit down and try to figure it out.

Now I am going to try and sew the sweater together. The pattern says to sew the shoulder seams, side seams, arm seams, and armhole seams. Did you sew the sleeve cap in and then sew the side seams and sleeve seams at the same time?

Hope I can get it together.

Thanks for all your help.

13

Yes: sleeve caps, then side and sleeve seams. :thumbsup:

When I knit this sweater and came to the parts where you’re doing the butterfly stitch while decreasing or binding off, I initially tried to adjust the written directions to center the butterflies. But, soon I found out that it was easier for me to do visually since I’m much more visually oriented. Actually, it was challenging for me to figure out the written instructions I posted. But, I like challenges! :wink:

Visually speaking, here’s what I figured out:
One butterfly = K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SKP. You need 5 sts to do a butterfly. Then, there are 5 sts between each butterfly, which accounts for the K5 at the end of K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SKP, K5. When you’re making the next set of butterflies in rows 7-10, they’re shifted over 5 sts so that they’re right above the 5 in-between (non-butterfly) sts of the previous set of butterflies. So on the 2nd set of butterflies, you’re knitting 5 sts over the tops of each of the old butterflies and making new butterflies above the K5 parts (of the 1st set). Once I figured out how to center the 1st set of butterflies, I was able to figure out where the following sets of butterflies should go. This made things less stressful for me because I didn’t have to keep count of any of the outside sts.[size=2][/size][size=1][/size]

14

Well I have been working away on my sweater. While sewing it together, I discovered that my right front was shorter than my left front. :frowning: So I had to knit it again. Oh Well! The sewing went pretty well. :smiley: Now I am ready to do the finishing touches. I have a question. On the back of the neck, the pattern says to pick up every stitch along the back of the neck. Do I pick up the stitches that are on the front sections also along the neckline? After I work the six rows, I assume I bind off and fold to inside and sew remaining stitches to the inside purl stitches. Does this mean to fold at the place where I picked up the stitches?
I can’t believe I have gotten this far! :roflhard: It is really looking like a sweater. :thumbsup:

15

[color=red]Only pick up the stitches along the back of the neck.[/color]

[color=green]Yes, that’s correct.[/color] :wink:

[color=blue]Again, yes that’s correct. If you scroll to the bottom of this page, there’s a nice picture with arrows of how to sew down a hem. She uses live stitches still on the needle. But, you’ll be fine with the BO stitches and can still do the same thing.[/color]

Almost done! :cheering:

16

Well I am almost there! I have one question. On the bottom hem it says to work in stockineete decreasing one stitch on each end of needle every 2 rows. On second row decrease every 10th stitch. Work for 8 rows. So I think it is telling me that on rows 2, 4, 6, and 8 I need to decrease every 10th stitch along with the decrease at each end of row. Is this correct? Also does it mean to decrease the 10th stitch then the 20th stitch and so on?
I didn’t have any trouble with the button holes thanks to Amy’s video. I just followed along as I worked my button holes.
Hope to have the sweater done this weekend.
Thanks for all you help.

17

I think it wants you to decrease one stitch at each end on every other row two times.

Then, on the next row decrease 10 evenly spaced.

Work 8 rows without decreasing.

If you continue to decrease, you’ll end up with a point.

18

Hey there! :smiley:

Like Ingrid said, only do the 10-st decrease once (on the 2nd row)

Here’s what I did after picking up sts:
Row 1 (WS): purl back, decreasing 1 st at each edge
Row 2 (RS): decrease 10 sts evenly
Rows 3, 5, 7 (WS): dec 1 st at each edge
Rows 4, 6, 8 (RS): knit

On the WS rows, I did p2tog at the beginning of the row and ssp at the end, one stitch in from the edge. For Row 2 when evenly decreasing, I just used k2tog.

When you fold the hem, you’ll notice why it was necessary to do so many decreases: there’s a button hole at the bottom that would be covered up by the hem. So, make sure that you do all 5 rows of decreases! :wink:

19

I did it! :happydance: Here is my first completed project. Thanks to Jackie F. and this website. Can’t wait to start my next project whatever that might be.

Never have sewn things together before, I think it went fairly well. I know practice makes perfect. At least it looks like a sweater.

Wasn’t sure about the buttons, but I think they are really cute.

Happy knitting!

20

That turned out great! Congratulations! :cheering: