Help With a Pattern Stitch

#1

I’m working on this lovely cardigan pattern from knitty.com (Girl Friday) and I’ve run into some trouble. While swatching I found that the 4"x4" stockingnette stitch turned out great. The 1x1 ribbing (over 4 inches) fit the gauge beautifully. But the Folding Diamond Lace pattern (charted above) didn’t look anything like the pictures.


This is what it is SUPPOSED to look like.

This is what mine looks like. Not the same. I’ve knit this swatch 3 times over different scales (2", 4", 7") and each swatch looks the same, but not like the pictures show.

The bottom half of each diamond matches, but the top doesn’t. And It seems that my purl stitches (on the right side of the work) end up in the wrong spot. I just don’t know what causes this. [B]Please help me![/B]
The yarn over (if I am doing it right) brings the yarn to the front (in knit stitch) of the work, then the next stitch is knitted.
[B]Since there is only one K2tog in each repetition of the pattern rows, the 2 yarn overs create 1 stitch. Isn’t this gonna creat problems in the cardigan’s pattern?[/B]

I’ll knit up a swatch in the pattern stitch in the same color I will be using for the cardigan and post it.

Thanks!
Help is appreciated!

#2

Please try posting the photo of your swatch again. (It didn’t show up.) Looking at the source code, it looks like you tried to link to an image from Gmail. Unfortunately, that doesn’t work. Try uploading the image somewhere else (e.g., Flickr, Photobucket, Blogspot, etc.) and insert it again. Alternatively, you can attach the photo to your post using the “Advanced” reply option.

#3

The SSK is also a decrease just like the K2tog but slanting in the opposite direction, so each repeat has 2 yarn over increases and two decreases to stabilize the stitch count.

Beautiful sweater!!

#4

I tried the stitch pattern over 15 stitches and it looks just like the picture. A couple of thoughts. This pattern is a multiple of 14+1, but it never says that anywhere so that could make a difference. So use 15, or 29, or 43 for your swatch. Start at the right on row 1 and work only to the maroon line, then start the pattern again at the right. Keep doing that until the last repeat and then add the one extra stitch that is beyond the maroon line. If you only use 15 you work across the whole chart.

Another thought, although you probably know this and are doing it right… a yarn over is not part of any stitch. You just bring the yarn to the front and that is it. So row 1 is p2, k2tog, k3, bring the yarn to the front, k1, bring the yarn to the front, k3, SSK, p1 (or 2 if it is the last repeat). :shrug: You must have that right through. Just trying to think of everything.

And check out the video for a SSK just in case you are not understanding how to do that. It uses 2 stitches and turns them into 1 slanting to the left.

Does anything I’ve said help at all or does the problem persist?

#5

Thanks a ton! I finally got it figured out. I wasn’t doing the ssk right (duh!) and thus wasn’t getting the right decrease. Thanks for all the help!

#6

You’re welcome.