German short rows, saddle shoulders and increasing in the round

[Aish_P]

Hi I’ve started knitting a top down sweater in the round and I’m stuck!

Please can you help me figure out this pattern, I am not sure when to turn for german short row.

Pattern as follows:

Pattern starts with 1X1 ribbing neck in the round and then asks to insert 4 markers while working 1 rnd ribbing =
" Work 4 sts (1/2 shoulder) PM, work 30 front sts, PM, work 8 sts, PM, work 30 back sts, PM, work 4 sts (1/2 shoulder)

The 8 sts at each side are for saddle shoulders and rnd beg at middle of left shoulder

Increase at outside of there 8 sts on each side, > at the same time work and turn GSR for lower neckline at from in this manner:

Cont St-st and inc to left after shoulder sts, and to the right before shoulder sts on ever row/rnd, at the same time work turning with GSR, first after 2 sts in on front sts at each side, then 2 sts after each turning a total of 5 times at each side.

Work inc every rnd and cont in rnd over all sts until a total of 21 times and until 160 sts on ndl.

Saddle shoulders are now finished, and cont raglan inc for sleeves"

I don’t understand the bit in bold, I am happy with the M1L and M1R increases on either side of the shoulders and understand that I need to continue in St-st for the GSR but am I meant to use GSR for the neckline or shoulders in each round? I understand i need to turn 5 times and go back and forth for GSR, just not sure what the pattern means by “first after 2 sts in on front sts at each side, then 2 sts after each”

Any help/ explanation would be useful, thank you so much in advance!

[salmonmac]

Welcome to the forum!
What is the name of your pattern and the designer?

[Aish_P]

Hi! Thank you so much excited to be here and learn more. I’ve started knitting in December and I’ve made 5 sweaters already. Safe to say I am addicted

The pattern is Jesper Sweater, designer Asa Christiansen from the 2015 Sandnes Garn booklet

[salmonmac]

You are really on your way. Five sweaters is impressive!
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jespergenser
The short rows will put more rows across the back of the sweater to make it fit better and more comfortably. You’ll be knitting back and forth across the sleeves and back of the sweater and knitting a small portion of the front.

Knit from the beginning of round marker to 2sts past the next marker (this is the marker between the left shoulder and the front) and turn. Work on the wrong side (WS) back across the left sleeve, back and right sleeve to 2sts past the marker between the front and the right sleeve. Turn here and knit back all the way around past the left sleeve, past the marker between left sleeve and front, to 2sts past the previous turn (2sts past the double stitch from the GSR) and turn.
Continue in this way for the total of 5 turns at each side of the front.

[Aish_P]

Thank you so much, that makes so much more sense I am so grateful!

Just one last question, after I finish the 5 turns, do I knit one row in the round doing the increases on either side of the shoulders and then start GSR again?

[salmonmac]

It depends on the directions that follow after the “5 turns”. Remember too that it’s 5 turns on each side of the front. That’ll be one turn from the knit side followed by one turn from the purl side. Repeat 4 times more.

Ordinarily I would think that this is the end of the short rows.

[Aish_P]

So… I’ve tried to draw out the two options I think you might mean?

Blue = shoulders, black dots mark beg and end of the one row that will include the 5 turns on each side, pink = increases that I will add after finishing GSRs

I have to do this 25 times according to the pattern, slightly concerned that option B will end up with a huge back?

Thanks so much for all your help, I was going crazy trying to figure it out on my own.

[salmonmac]

It’s more like the B option. If you find that the back looks too much higher than the front you can always skip the last couple of short rows.
It seems to me that you start the short rows knitting toward the front first.

Since the pattern asks you to increase at the outside of the 8sts on each side and at the same time work the GSR, you would increase each time you pass the shoulder sts on these rows.

[Aish_P]

Hello! Just wanted to show you the progress I’ve made and to thank you so much for all your help, I did the GSR 5 turns on each side with the increases as you said and it worked really well!

[salmonmac]

That looks perfect. A beautiful sweater in a gorgeous color. Well done!