German Short Rows - Help!

#1

Hi there,

My name is Cindy and this my first time posting a problem. I am knitting a bottom up sweater in the round with raglan sleeves and a high neck. I’ve never had a problem with German short rows until now.

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My pattern is Dark Moss Pullover by Teti Lutsak. Starting the middle of the front, I knitted to M1 and decreased and decreased after m2, knitted all the way around to 5 stitches before MOF, w&t. I did the same purling back around to 5 stitches before MOF, w&t. I continued in this manner per the instructions (4 sts to w&t) but ran out of stitches to decrease by the time I got to SR5. Where am I going wrong? The next page has me continuing for a total of 22 rows and I’m already out of stitches! I hope one of you has used this pattern or something similar and can give me some advice.

Thanks!

Cindy

#2

Welcome to KH!

Are you counting sts as recommended in the note beginning “Regardless of which short row…”? In that case for SR1 you would knit 4sts, then make stitch 5 the double stitch. Is that what you did but still ran out of sts?
Can you tell us how many sts you had before starting this section of the pattern? Don’t give us any more of the pattern please due to designer copyright.

#3

Hi!
Yes to your first question regarding the stitch I wrapped, and I started with 128 stitches.

#4

I just reread your reply: “ In that case for SR1 you would knit 4sts, then make stitch 5 the double stitch.” So when the instructions say to “K till 5 sts to MOF”, I should knit 4 of those stitches and then wrap the 5th?

#5

You’re going to knit until there are 5sts before the MOF. So knit up to those last 5 unworked sts then make that 5th stitch the double stitch. Is that what you were doing or were you working some other stitch as the double stitch?
This is a good time to place markers on all the stitches that should be double stitches so that you can see before working the rows that you will have enough sts to complete the short row section of the pattern.

#6

The 128 stitches are divided as follows:
Front- 24 stitches between raglan stitches
Back - same as front
Between raglan stitches, 38 stitches for each sleeve.

#7

I was knitting up to 5 sts before MOF and wrapping the 5th st from the MOF. Then as I went to SR3 and so on, I knitted to 4 sts before the last wrap, and wrapped the 4th stitch from that wrap. Is this correct?

#8

That sounds correct. Do the short rows continue the pattern of 4sts before the previous wrap? Do the decreases after SR8 continue with 1 stitch decreased?

You start with 128sts. Say each short row is about 4sts short of the previous, that’s about 88-90sts needed to work the 22 short rows. There are 12sts decreased in the first 6 rows and assuming the decreases continue at 1 per row that’s about 100sts remaining. These are estimates with assumptions but there should be enough sts to work the short rows, certainly past SR5.
It should look similar to this diagram where you’re turning some number of sts (4 or 5) before the last turn.
KH5
Marking the double sts will help.

#9

First, I want to thank you so much for helping me figure this out. Yes, there are more instructions after SR8 with some variations. Your drawing really helps. I think I got stuck at the sleeves. If there aren’t the right number of stitches to do both the wrap and decrease at the raglan, should I do the decrease and then the wrap on the other side of the sleeve? Does that make sense?

#10

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This is where I keep getting stuck. SR5. In the photo, I’m at the point where I should be 4 sts from the last wrap. Unfortunately, the last wrap is 2 sts from the left raglan M3 and the other 2 sts are to the right of the right raglan M4. If I wrap there and turn, according SR6, I have to decrease at M4 but after the W&T, I’m to the right of M4 so I can’t.
I’ve done this several times and always end up here. Does this help you to see where I’m going wrong?

#11

Ah thanks, I see what you mean about not enough sts. Is the pattern written for wrap & turn but you are substituting German short rows? That may be the difference. If you substitute GSR for w&t, you need to work one stitch fewer between double sts. So for the first and second short rows you would make stitch 4 the double stitch. For the next short rows (3-8) instead of 4sts from the previous turn you would work 3sts from the turn.

Also, for SR3, 5 and 7 there’s a decrease at M2 raglan line on the knit side instead of M3.

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#12

You may be right! The pattern describes them as short rows but the actual instructions say w&t. I’ll try it again as you’ve described.
Thank you!

#13

Mark those sts to spare your working yarn if you can. Hope it goes well but let us know either way!

#14

I followed your instructions and did the w&t, not German short rows. This time I made it all the way to SR7 but ran out of stitches again so couldn’t w&t.

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I am completely baffled. I’ve knitted much more complicated sweaters than this.
Any more ideas?

#15

These short rows don’t have to be precise. Work fewer sts so that you can work the decrease or make the decrease and then once past that, make the w&t. These short rows are going to extend at least into the sleeves.
I’ll see if I can try this on needles although I’m traveling at the moment. You might also contact this project knitter who has made 4 of these sweaters.
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/shazrav/dark-moss-pullover-4
or post in the Comments section of the Ravelry page. The designer seems to be responsive.

#16

Thank you. I was wondering if the short rows might be going into the sleeves.
I have contacted the designer several times and received no response. Very frustrating. This why I contacted the forum.
I really appreciate your help and will wait to hear back from you when you’re done traveling. In the meantime, I’ll see if going into the sleeves works.

Thanks again. Safe travels!

#17

Oh, yes. These short row turns will definitely extend into the shoulders and maybe even into the back.

#18

I would expect the short rows to mostly be on the back panel, as it’s very common to need to raise the back neck and part of the shoulder to get a nice fit for the neck. As they start on the front, there will also be w&t happening on the sleeve sections.

You aren’t by any chance decreasing at all 4 raglan lines, instead of only 2 per row? That seems like something I might do—“oh, here’s a marker, I have to decrease!” Maybe use a different type of marker for the raglans than for the w&t?

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