I’m working on a sweater that is knit bottom-up, and I’ve reached the point where I need to begin working on the front. The back was easy:
Beginning with 121 sts working back and forth: k4,p1 ribbing then decrease on RS rows by k2, ssk, pattern to last 4 sts, k2tog, k2. After completing the back I have 93 sts. After shaping the shoulders I have 43 bound off sts for the back of the neck and 25 sts for each shoulder on holders.
So far this has not been a problem. Then I came to the front and this is what the directions say:
Work same as Back until piece measures 6 in, ending with WS row. On the next row work across 33 sts for Left Front and place on a holder. Bind off 27 sts for neck. work across remaining 33 sts for Right Front.
What I don’t understand is that on the back I had 121 sts to begin with and only ended up with 93 after the decreases. The whole back is about 13 inches long. The numbers in the pattern suggest that I need to [I]start[/I] the front with 93 sts. How does this work since I have 121 on the holder for the front sts?? This makes it seem like the neck is 6 inches from where I separated the front and back which puts it about 7 inches below where I bound off for the back of the neck. Does anybody know what to do?
You started the back with 121 sts. After the decreases how many sts did you have? I could do the math but I usually get it wrong anyhow. As I’m reading it you’ll start the front with 121 sts the same as the back, work the same as for the back with the decrease row and when you get to 6" you’ll divide for the neck.
After the decreases I had 93 sts. At first I thought that it did mean to work as I had the back until I reach the place where the shoulder shaping began but it specified knit as back for 6 inches and then the part about shoulder shaping on the front came after the explanation of separating the left/right front sides.
Unfortunately the pattern I’m working from is in a book of patterns from a local spinnery. I’m sorry I know that it makes it much harder to explain and understand if I can’t share the pattern,
Oh, wait I’m sorry I misread your post. Yes it would make sense to divide for the neck at 6 inches according to the pattern, but the bound off stitches for the neck are at nearly 13 inches on the back. So wouldn’t the neck be in two different places on front and back?
The neck is often at two different places in the front and back with the neck opening longer in the front than in the back. Usually the directions are to work the front as the back until some point after the armhole shaping. That way the front and back are the same. You should start the front with 121 sts and probably end the decreases with 93sts. The front neck shaping will happen earlier on the front than the back. Then you’ll probably knit until the armhole is the same length as the back armhole and then begin the bind off for the shoulders.