Hello,
I am trying to knit a dog sweater and ran into a problem. I am hoping I can finish it one day LOL.
The sweater has me using 3 balls of yarn to make three different sections for leg openings.
Leg openings read as pattern across 8 sts. Join 2nd ball of yarn and cast off 6sts. Pattern across 55 sts.(including st on needle after cast off). Join third ball of yarn and with 3rd ball,cast off next 9. Pat to end of row. I had no problem with follow this.
But at the joining row I have a problem it reads as…
Pat across 8 sts. Turn Cast on 6 sts. Turn. Pattern across 55 sts. Turn Cast on 6 sts. Trun. Pat to end of row.
My problem is if it is the joining row doesn’t that mean to join the row tog?
If so how do I do that and what do I do with the other balls of yarn.
Pat across 8 sts. Turn Cast on 6 sts. Turn. Pattern across 55 sts. Turn Cast on 6 sts. Trun. Pat to end of row.
Alright… pat across 8sts… that’s do that pattern you’ve been doing for the first eight stitches. Then, it wants you to turn your knitting, as if you were going to knit those eight stitches again but instead, you cast on six stitches, then you turn back to the next group of stitches, do your pattern for 55 stitches, turn, cast on, turn, then pattern to the end. Basically, it looks like it’s having you add on stitches to make the other side of the doggie leg hole. Does this make more sense to you? You’re not joining the pieces to each other, you’re joining the pieces to an end of a cast on of six stitches. This should make a large enough hole for the doggie to stick his legs through.
Yes, that means you’ll be joining the sections back together to one piece again, the cast on sts will connect them. All the turns are for making the cast on sts - turn your work (really, just put the R needle into the L hand) cast on sts, turn again (putl the needle back to the R hand) then knit to the next gap where you cast on sts again. Just drop the extra balls of yarn, you don’t need them for now. If they’re in the way you can cut them, leaving a tail long enough to weave in through the sts.
If I don’t join then how does the pattern make a leg opening? It just seems as if they no longer dicuss what to do with the other balls of yarn and if I join then the first stitch is very loose and I am not sure if I just continue knitting with the first ball of yarn or keep picking up and knitting with the other 2 balls of yarn in the section of the sweater.
If you knit each section with a separate ball of yarn, it will continue to be separate and not get joined. You just stop working with the other balls of yarn, knitting the sts from each section and the cast ons with only one ball. At first the sts will be joined by the cast on sts, but as you work more rows you’ll see how it become one piece again. Don’t worry about the first stitch at the join being loose, you can tighten it up with the tails from the yarn that you won’t be using there.
I have run across another problem though I hope no one minds helping again…
I am now at the point that I have finished the back shaping.
it reads this now
leave rem sts on spare needle. ( so does this mean the stitches I just finished knitting and is it the needle the one they are already on?)
Sew neck seam to second set of markers.( I think I understand this, I am suppose to go to the point of where I did the cast on chain and match up stitches then sew it with a needle and yarn until I reach the markers. Am I correct here?)
then it goes to
Body Ribbing:
With RS facing and circular needle, pick up and knit 40 sts along body from 2nd marker to back. K47 from spare needle dec 3 sts evenly across. Pick up and knit 40 sts along opposite sid of body to2nd marker. ( ok here is where I am so lost, what do they mean pick up and what yarn do I use to knit the 40sts?)
I am so determined to get this dogie sweater done, I think once I finish I will come to understand the patterns a little better.
It’s a little hard to visualize where you are in this dog sweater but it sounds like the remaining sts are the ones on your needle now. Slip them to a spare needle (or a piece of scrap yarn or a st holder). You’ll work with them later.
When the pattern says to pick up sts you’re going to create live sts on one of the edges of your work (a side or even the cast on edge or all of these). See this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX4aWYWP9wA for one example of how to do that. They show you picking up with a needle but sometimes it’s easier to pick up with a crochet hook.