Help with Berroco Pattern

How-to Questions
1

Hi everyone! I love this forum already and have only been lurking for a little bit…

I have a question about a pattern called “June” on Berroco’s website. The site says the yarn has been discontinued so they don’t answer inquiries on the pattern anymore. I’m using a totally different yarn (nifty vintage!)anyway, used double. It’s just a tank top pattern, not a whole lot going on in it.

The pattern’s rated “Very Easy” so I can’t believe I have a problem with it! Here’s the weird part; I’m putting only my size numbers and copying EXACTLY what the pattern says:

Work even on 68 sts until armholes measure 8 1/2", end on WS.
Shape Neck: Work 32 sts, k2 tog, join another ball of yarn and SKP, k to end.
Working both sides at once, bind off 2 sts at each neck edge 13 times, then dec 1 st at each neck edge every other row 2 times. When all bind offs and decs have been completed and armholes measure 8 1/2", end on WS. Bind of 5 sts each side for shoulders.

Now, we start with 68 sts, yes? And we end up with 10 (5 per side), no? We’ve reduced only 2 stitches when we start the neck division, so we now have 64 sts, or 32 per side.

If I could bind off at the END of a row, the 2 sts at each neck edge 13 times would reduce my number of stitches to, let’s see, just 12. But since I can only bind off at the beginning of each row, I’ve only reduced my number of stitches by 26, total, or 13 each side. So I have 38 stitches, which in no way can be reduced to 10 stitches with 2 more decrease rows.

If I bound off at the shoulder edge as well, that might work, but the schematic shows the shoulder edge as straight up after the armhole decreases.

Am I just reading this wrong? Well, I finished the front (or back, they’re both the same) my own way… my usual solution to this sort of problem. Once I completed the bind-offs I knew I had WAY too many stitches, so I decreased a stitch on each side and for each row (that is, 4 stitches per row) until the armhole measured 8 1/2" like it’s supposed to. Then I bound off the remaining 11 stitches per side, figuring it’ll sew up just fine with that many stitches per side.

Here’s a link (hope it works!) to the pattern:
http://www.berroco.com/178/178_june.html

2

I can’t seem to get the math to work out, either. :thinking: Sounds like you worked it out, though–good for you!

I would have bound off at the beginning of every sixth row as I got to it on a particular side–knit or purl. But that would have taken the 32 per side down to 20, less 2 more for the final decreases–it would still get 18 left per side. :thinking:

3

I’m so glad to hear it! I thought I must be missing something, or misreading somehow, since that’s the case 99% of the time!

So anyone who works Berroco’s free “June” pattern, beware!

Anyway the thing looks fine after all those decreases, and it may turn out a bit better than the original, since I thought the shoulders might slip off to the outside, they’re set so widely in the pattern.

I’ll try to post a pix when I’m done. Thanks so much for your reply!

4

I’m glad you were able to work it out. Too often we get stuck in the pattern and if it doesn’t work out, we panic. It’s only knitting, after all. :wink: