Help! Button-band + neckband are really wavy

Hey knitting friends! I just added a 1x1 ribbed neck band + button band to my cardigan by picking up stitches as per the pattern instructions and it looks terrible :pleading_face:. It looks really flared out and wavy. The cardigan body itself is reverse-stockinette with strands of yarn weaved vertically through the purl bumps.

The unfinished edge is a bit wavy because of how the vertical weaving affects the fabric… could that be the issue? Or I was wondering since it essentially has a ruffled effect, maybe I just need to decrease as I create the additional rows in the button band, or pick up fewer stitches? I picked up exactly the number directed from the pattern and am using the correct smaller needle size + gauge.

Any help is greatly appreciated, I’m a relatively new knitter and am trying to finish this before I leave on a trip next weekend and feel stuck :cold_sweat:

Pictures below to show what I am talking about:


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I’m willing to concede I might be wrong here, but my first thought was that there are too many stitches in the button band. The cast off matters, too. This video might be helpful:


Apart from the wavy bands your knitting looks great! Sometimes even when you follow a pattern to the letter (same yarn, needles and gauge) things can turn out differently.
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Thank you @Shintoga, I bookmarked that video to watch it later tonight! Your hunch makes sense to me, the fact that it’s almost “ruffled” makes it seem like I’m trying to fit too many stitches onto the length of the base of the band…

Sometimes even when you follow a pattern to the letter (same yarn, needles and gauge) things can turn out differently.

honestly reading this helped, I really wasn’t sure what I did “wrong” because I picked up exactly as many stitches as it said to. But you’re right, sometimes it just doesn’t work out the way it’s supposed to! I’m definitely excited to get better at knitting so I can diagnose what’s going wrong even when I followed the directions. Thanks again for responding, this community is always so helpful!

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How disappointing! As @Shintoga said, … And your sweater is beautiful! Sometimes I run yarn through the band and pull them tighter. I just did that with a blanket. I sure hope you can fix it before your trip!

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You’re welcome, I hope you can sort it out before your trip!

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I tried again picking up fewer stitches, and it looks wayyy better! the youtube video @shintoga shared was really informative. i was a little too lazy to actually measure the stitches & calculate the ratio like it suggested (especially along the curved neckband) so i just sorta chose 5/7 stitches as my ratio and i think it looks a lot better!!! probably could have picked up slightly more because it does bend in a little bit at the ends of the ribbing but i’m gonna call it good enough :slight_smile:

image

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It looks much better! :grin:

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What a difference. It looks really good. I was admiring your cardigan the other day, what a great technique with the yarn woven through - very effective. You’ve made it so neatly too.

Having just knit the button and buttonhole bands on a cardigan yesterday, I would add that in my pattern I was directed to use needles two sizes smaller than the body. Looks great!
Your cardigan is beautiful!

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@Creations thank you! the pattern is from Wool And The Gang. tbh it’s been quite tedious to weave all of the strands in, and since it changes the gauge so much i ended up having to redo an entire sleeve that came out too short… so i wouldn’t necessarily recommend this technique, but thankfully i do like how it ended up looking in the end!

@borgeson yes great point! i actually was using smaller needles for this than for the body, but i didn’t want to go down even further because this size matches the gauge of the ribbing on the sleeves + bottom of the sweater. but definitely a good point!

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Wonder why the pictures went missing.

It may well be part of the same problem with posting photos. IT is working on it.

TY for the clarification.

One of my lys owners says she see alot of problems with woolandthegang patterns

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