Has anybody made the Shawl Collar Jacket from the Debbie Bliss Snow Queen pattern book? I need help!! I have reached the left front band and collar and have completed the short rows that make up the increase part of the shawl collar, then the 26 rows across for the front rib. The instructions then ask you to decrease the short rows from 46 sts to 16 sts. It is not clear to me how you do this. I am not sure when are where to wrap the stitch. I may add that nowhere in the instructions does it even tell you to wrap the stitch! All this has to be done on a rib rather than a stocking stitch which makes it even more complicated!
Help with Debbie Bliss Shawl Collar Jacket pattern (Snow Queen pattern book)
I don’t have the book you are working from so would need a lot more information to really tell what they want. But I do know that if a pattern doesn’t tell you to wrap for doing turns, you usually don’t need to. I know the perfectionist in us want to wrap to make sure there will be no holes, but sometimes it is not necessary or even a good idea.
Do you decrease the short rows from 46 to 16 over one row or does it give instructions for doing this over several rows? Look around very carefully in your book, it may tell you what to do here in some place you wouldn’t expect it, some note at the beginning or end of the pattern, a side bar or in the beginning or end of the book where they may have some more general instructions that apply to more than one pattern.
Firstly, thank you for your knitting help. I still can not make this work. You can’t just turn as it creates huge holes. I managed the increase wrap and turn but can not decrease wrap and turn. I have 114 sts down the left front band and collar. Next instructions are:
Next 2 rows Rib 46, turn, rib to end
Next 2 rows Rib 44, turn, rib to end
Next 2 rows Rib 42, turn, rib to end
Cont in this way and work 2 sts fewer on every alt row until the following sts have been worked:
Next 2 rows Rib 16, turn, rib to end
Easy to do on the increase as you knit into the next stitch, but how do you decrease seamlessly from the 114 sts?
If you can answer this, I will be thrilled!
I can be dense sometimes but I’m not understanding the problem. There is nothing about a decrease in these directions. :?? You are supposed to do short rows stopping 2 stitches short of the last ones each time until you are only ribbing across 16 in the middle. But that doesn’t decrease anything. Are you having trouble with how to do the wrap and turn while stopping 2 short each time? Is that the issue?
There is a kind of short row that I recently learned about that prevents holes without doing a standard wrap. Here is a video link to instuctions for one type. You need to look at two videos, one for a purl and one for a knit, but you should be able to watch one and find the other from this link. These are by Rox.
Try this out and see if it helps.
You’re decreasing only in the sense that you’re working with fewer sts each row, although all the sts are still there on one of the needles. On these “decrease” rows, you won’t be picking up the wrap on the next row the way you did in the “increase” section. In this case, you keep leaving the wrap because you are knitting fewer sts. There should be a final row(s) that knit over the entire collar, picking up the wraps from the “decrease” rows. In that case, leave the holes as you’ll be filling them in when you pick up the wraps on the final rows.
No you are not dense, it was me being very ditsy! What I did not realize is that you wrap the stitches you need to work for the short rows and then you pick up all the wraps on the final row. It was picking all the wraps up on the final row that I did not understand. I have now completed the jacket. Many thanks!
Oh, good news! I’m glad you got it figured out.
Congrats on finishing and enjoy wearing the jacket! That’s such a great Aha! moment when you understand an elusive direction.