Help! this pattern doesn't make sense to me

#1

i’m trying to work on this shawl, but the pattern doesn’t seem to make sense… the way i’m understanding it makes it so that it would wind up losing a crap load of stitches and winding up with only like 5 stitches left after the end of the 4 row pattern, even though you start with 32 stitches. can anyone help me to understand what i’m supposed to do to make this pattern work? it’s from the vogue knitting Shawls Two book, in case anyone has that and understands it…

cast on 32 stitches.
row 1: (WS) purl across wrapping yarn twice around needle for each st.
Row 2: *Sl next 4 sts to RH needle dropping extra wraps and forming 4 enlongated sts, sl these 4 sts back to LH needle, working through all 4 sts at once, work [k4tog, p4tog] twice; rep from * to end.
Row 3: P2, purl across wrappin gyarn twice around needle for each st, to the last 2 sts, end p2.
Row 4: K2, *sl next 4 sts to RH needle dropping extra wraps and forming 4 enlongated sts, sl these 4 sts back to LH needle, woring through all 4 sts at once, work [k4tog, p4tog] twice; rep from *, end k2.

Rep rows 1-4 until piece measures 65". end with a WS row.

the first row is easy, but the way i understand it i’d wind up with only one stitch for every 4 on the second row, and the same goes for the 4th row… leaving me with like 5 or 6 stitches at the end of the 4 rows, which is definitely not right.

HELP!!!

#2

For every stitch you wrap the yarn around the needle 2 extra times, these are the ones you drop on the next row. Then you work the same 4 sts 4 times to still end up with 4 sts on your needle. Have you tried it out with some leftover yarn to see how it works? Often things don’t make sense in a pattern until you have the yarn and needles in hand and can work it out that way. Just try doing it step by step.

#3

I’ll be honest… I’m stumped… :shrug:

I did find a video on elongated stitch…

http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/advanced-techniques

Hopefully that will help.

The shawl is really nice. I can understand why you would want to knit it. Where did you get your pattern?

#4

i tried working through the same 4 stitches 4 times, and did a full set to see if it worked, but it doesn’t look at all like the shawl is supposed to look then :frowning:

it’s from the book [U]Shawls Two[/U], from Vogue Knitting.

#5

On Row 1, you purl each st and wrap it 2 extra times. So:

Insert needle in st to purl and wrap yarn 3 times before making your purl st. This is for EVERY st.

On Row 2, you slip 4 sts to the right needle, dropping those extra wraps from each st. This makes a very large stitch for each one. Put them back on the left needle. You will then, using those 4 sts, k4tog [I](leave original 4 sts on left needle, new stitch is on right needle[/I]), p4tog ([I]leave original 4 sts on left needle, new stitch is on right needle[/I]), k4tog ([I]leave original 4 sts on left needle, new stitch is on right needle[/I]), p4tog ([I]drop original 4 sts from needle[/I]). So, you still have 4 sts, just with a lot of work going into it.

On Row 3, it’s the same as Row 1, EXCEPT the first and last 2 sts do not have extra wraps.

On Row 4, it’s the same as Row 2, EXCEPT the first and last 2 sts are just plain knit stitches.

#6

yay! it works! thanks knit4pie! :slight_smile:

#7

Glad you could understand my explanation. It’s not really all that difficult…once you get it. Until then, it’s horribly complicated, I know.

#8

I also thank you for the explanation… I tried it on scrap yarn and it worked… Thank you!!!

I really like the pattern so I think I’ll have to pick that one up. Just from my swatch it looks really cool.

Thanks again.