HELP! I’m new to knitting. I’ve learned how to cast on and cast off, purl & knit. I’m up to the neck and I don’t get it. It talks about knitting certain stitches and then binding off others but they bind off the same stitch twice….a bunch of them. Here’s a picture of the instructions.
Welcome to KH and welcome to knitting!
What is the name of your pattern and designer, and which size are you making, first, second, third…?
You’ve got the basics and this is all you need for the neck here.
Knit the first 11sts for the smallest size for example. Then bind off the next 19sts (that’ll mean knitting two more sts, then lifting the first over the second).
Continue on knitting 10sts not counting the one stitch left on the right needle after the bind off.
Now turn to the wrong side and follow the stitch sequence given until you get to the gap created by the bind off in row 1. Cable cast on 19sts then purl to the last 5sts and again follow the stitch sequence given.
Here’s a video for the cable cast on mid row.
As @salmonmac said, the numbers in parentheses are for the different sizes. You’re not binding off Stitch #19 or #21 twice, you’re binding off 19 stitches if you’re doing one of the first 2 sizes, or binding off 21 for the next two sizes. You might want to go through this section of the pattern and circle the numbers that apply to your size.
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It might also help to count off the sts and place markers either side of the center sts to be bound off. Keep in mind that you have to knit two sts in order to bind off one.
Ahhh, thank you so much for responding. I’m doing the Axel Pullovwe by Heidi May in XL
Here’s what I got from what you said. I’ll knit 25 stitches, bind off the next 25 stitches…it says 25 twice because it takes 2 stitches to bind off 1??? But now do I do what kind of stitch 50 times? Then I turn it, and I think I got everything until the last parentheses. Those last set of parentheses I don’t know what they mean 
Thanks!
I now see from Colocro that the double numbers refer to the same # of stitches for two different sizes.
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Knit 25 for one shoulder. Bind off the center 25 for the neck opening. For your size the two numbers happen to be the same. When you’ve lifted each stitch over and off the needle in the bind off and 25sts have been lifted over, there will be one stitch left on the right hand needle. Then knit the next 24sts.
That’ll give you a center gap with 25sts each side for the shoulders. The total stitch number will be 50sts (25 right shoulder + 25 left shoulder). (No stitches to work here, the pattern is just giving you the live stitch total.)
The last set of parentheses is giving your total stitch count. You knit 25, bind off 25 (don’t count these in the total), then knit 24. I’m not sure how that gives 50 rather than 49, but it probably has to do with the extra stitch involved in the bind-off. And I see @salmonmac has answered that!