Confused with Sweater Pattern - Joining Front and Back Knits

HI! I’m working on this sweater and came across this portion of the pattern:
Join Front and Back Neck sts:
With RS facing and joining onto
working needle, pat across 25 sts
from Back st holder, then pat
across 11 sts from Front. P2tog.

I don’t understand how to do this. For context I knit the front piece with a separate ball of yarn and the back piece with another ball of yarn (maybe I did that incorrectly). I don’t know how to join the two pieces together and would really appreciate some help with this! Also I have linked the full pattern below to skim through for context.

Thank you in advance for your help! :slight_smile:

Welcome to KH!

You’ve worked the front and back correctly with separate balls of yarn. These next instructions don’t really join the front and back at the shoulders as you usually would. The shoulders are going to remain open (and in fact bound off). You’ll be linking the back sts to the front sts along the first row. Under Finishing you get to seam the front and back shoulder sts closed.

Place the back sts on the needle with the RS facing, knit across the left front sts(left as you would wear the piece), turn leaving the right front sts unworked. Work back on the WS row across left front and back sts then across the right front sts (the ones that were unworked on the first RS row). Follow the directions for joining sts with p2tog tbl.

Hi! Thank you for helping me with the pattern. I am still a bit confused. Since I worked the pieces separately with separate balls of yarn, which yarn am I supposed to use as I knit the back or front pieces (since I have 2 working yarns). I have attached pictures of my pieces for reference. Also does right side facing mean the right side is facing me as I knit or facing away from me?

I am also confused about how i would knit across the left front stitches first as the working yarn is on the right side of how I would wear the front piece.

Thank you for all your help so far!

Looks very nice!


With the right side facing means with the public side or outside of the piece facing you. So as you took the photo the right side was facing you. Slip the back sts onto your circular needle. Use the strand of yarn circled in blue to begin knitting across the 11 front sts. You only need to work with this strand of yarn. You won’t need the yarn attached to the front for working the hood unless you can use it to seam the shoulders later.

Thank you so much! You have been so helpful! Sorry I just have a couple more questions:

Am I slipping the back stitches onto the working needle (left needle as I’m about to knit) or the right needle? I assume it is the needle in my right hand so that then I can knit the front 11 sts. Not sure if that is correct though, I find this portion of the pattern very confusing.

My other question is if I am not using the yarn from the front panel what do I do with it? I don’t understand how to combine it with my current pattern or how to get rid of it without opening stitches.

Thanks!

You’ve got it. Slip the back sts onto the right needle and consider them already knit. You’re ready to knit the front 11sts.

For the yarn attached to the front, you can leave it there until the finishing and use it to seam the shoulder. If you don’t want to have it hanging around in your way, cut it leaving about a 6 inch tail and weave it in later. That way the front sts will be secure and won’t unravel.

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Hi, thank you for all your help. I tried to follow your instructions but they didn’t seem to work. The pattern mentions to pattern across the back stitches rather than slip them and I think this makes sense otherwise the right/wrong side instructions for beginning the hood don’t line up. For example, I finished the front on a RS row which means that I should be knitting the wrong side pattern (K1 and P1tbl) for when I knit these upcoming stitches. However, when I do this with the back stitches on my right needle and using the working yarn from that patch, I end up with the wrong side of the front joining with the right side of the back. This means that the end product will not be able to be right side facing. Am I explaining this well? I think there might be something else I am supposed to do since it says to work the back stitches in pattern (they ended on a wrong side row so I think that’s why they are supposed to be worked). please let me know if you can help with this.

Again, thank you for everything so far.

Also the back pattern mentioned ending on a right side row - did I do that part incorrectly? I completed the right side row because I thought that’s what it meant so then the next row was a wrong side row and now to continue I have to knit the RS I believe.

Hello

I have not read your pattern, if you ended on a right side row for one section and then worked “next row” as wrong side then the next row would correctly be the right side. However the working yarn in your back is sitting on the left looking like you ended with a right side row. Is it possible you have flipped the back piece over and have photographed then wrong side (inside) instead if the right side?
If you flip it over the yarn will be on the right, ready to work a right side row. This way you can work the back stitches (I sometimes work directly off a stitch holder but if you find it tricky you will need to slip them into a needle first) with the working yarn attached to the back and then continue across the front 11.

What do you think?

You should end the back having completed a RS row. Because your yarn is at the left edge as expected, I recommend just continuing on to the front to join to the front.
For the front, complete a WS row so that you’re ready to work the RS row as a continuation of the back.

It’s possible that when the pattern says “…ending on a RS row” they mean ready to work a RS row which is an unusual way to state it. Nevertheless, given where your yarn strand is, it’s perfectly fine to slip the sts to the right needle and proceed onto a RS row on the front once you’ve worked that WS front row.

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Thank you so much! It worked out and now I’m continuing with the hood I really appreciate all your help with this :slight_smile:

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Thank you I figured it out but I appreciate you trying to help me with this! Very appreciated :slight_smile:

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