Help with double asteriks!

I am currently working on a pattern that has a double asteriks right at the beginning at I’m not sure what that means. Am I supposed to cast 63 stitches twice?

BACK
**Cast on 63 (67-73-79-91-97) sts.

Link to pattern: https://www.yarnspirations.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-master-catalog-spinrite/default/dw638b9134/PDF/BRK0129-001944M.pdf

Hello

No, don’t cast on double.
Work the pattern for the back as though the double asterisk is not there. The double asterisk is for the front of the sweater, so if you read ahead you will find, within the back instructions a place where the double asterisk closes/ends. Just make a mental note of it.
Read ahead further to “front” and you will see it tells you to work the front the same as the back starting at the first double asterisk and ending with the second double asterisk. At the point of the second double asterisk the pattern for the front changes.

Hope this makes sense and you are able to get started on your sweater.
If you have more questions, do ask.

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I can’t believe I didn’t notice that! Thank you

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You’re welcome.

Sometimes reading ahead clears things up, other times reading ahead causes more confusion and we have to just trust the pattern and see it makes sense when we get to that part with the work on the needles.

It’s great this place is here for us all to be able to ask these questions.

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Hi! I am looking at the part where I’m supposed the knit the armholes,
when it says “cont even in” working on the armholes, what do they mean by that. Does “even” have a meaning here?

Thanks again!

OK this part just means keep the textured pattern going all in line, so working “evenly” or with “continuity”, does that make sense?
As you make decreases for the arm holes you will need to look at the fabric you have worked and ensure that the stitch pattern continues in line. For instance with 1 stitch decreased you would need to take into account in that your set pattern would then begin on stitch 2, not stitch 1. With more stitches decreased take all these into account when working the stitch pattern that you have set up.
Sometimes counting the stitches is the easiest way. Sometimes it helps to “read” your fabric looking at how each stitch forms the overall pattern so that when you come to decreased stitches you are able to look at the work on the needles and recognise what stitch comes next. (With a tricky pattern knitting mindfully for the part where it is set up can really help once you get to a part where it sets you free to continue the pattern on your own. If I mindlessly follow a pattern I don’t know how to read it later on but when I am more mindful it is a lot easier to read the work later on)

If you get stuck on that part you can post a question and a photo and I’m sure someone will be able to help you through it.

Hope this helps

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Yes that makes sense! I’m on the part where I’m supposed to start making the arm holes, and I’m supposed to cast off four on beginning of two rows. Does that mean I’m supposed to cast off four one the RS and then cast off four on the WS as well? I’m trying to picture it in my head but not sure if it would look uneven?

Yes, cast off at the start of a knit row and at the start of the following purl row.

Why not on the same row? Because it’s not convenient to cast off at the end of a row – try it and see!

This video explains a bit more. (It also covers cardigan fronts, and what “reverse shaping” means, which might be relevant to a future project.)

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Yeah that’s true. I didn’t think of it that way! Is the video link supposed to be in your comment?

It won’t look uneven, it is only one row different and as @kushami says it is not convenient to cast off at the end of a row. If you did cast off at the end of the row your yarn would end up at the end of the cast off stitches and you would have to rejoin yarn on the next row, it’s better to cast off at the beginning of the wrong side row instead and this keeps your yarn attached and in the right place to work the rest of the row.

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Oops, sorry. I managed to delete part of my comment.

Here’s the blog post:

And a bit more detail in the video:

The main topic is “reversing shaping” (which you may need to do in a future pattern if the instructions for the second armscye aren’t given in full).

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Thank you!

So I am doing the part where it’s shape shoulder (the first one) and it told me to cast off 7 and then work even and cast off again? I’m not sure what they mean by work even. This is the result I got and I’m not sure if that’s what it’s supposed to be.

You should end up with a series of steps (two or more, depending on your pattern). When you seam the shoulders later, the steps will look like a nice straight incline. The taller end of the steps should be at the neck.

Work even means “keep doing what you were doing previously with the stitch pattern and nothing else” in between the new instructions. So if you were doing stockinette beforehand, keep doing that in between creating the stair steps. Or moss stitch, or whatever your stitch pattern is.

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Hey guys! Im almost finished this sweater! There’s one final detail that I need help with that’s confusing me. So at the collar part, it says “With RS facing, pick up and knit 12 sts down left front neck edge”. I can’t quite picture in my head how this works, because there is more than 12 sts on the neckline before the stitch holder.

Thanks in advance

Hello
Sounds like you’re almost there!

Left front neck edge is the left as you would be wearing the sweater. The 12 stitches are to be picked up and knit just from that edge.
If you hold the sweater up to you as though wearing it to get the left front, then flip it around so that you are looking at the front RS you will pick up beginning on the right (as you look at it) and work towards the centre front.

Either evenly space the pick ups by eye to get 12 (1 at the 1st stitch another 5 up to half way etc) or another option I used from a tutorial tip was to pick up in every stitch on the first row (the whole neck) and then adjust in the second row up or down by increasing or decreasing to the number the pattern states (12 on this part) the reason for this is to make the transition “full” and avoid little holes along the collar or neck band.

If you are still not sure where to pick up these 12 maybe post a photo.

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Congrats, you can see the finish line from here!
Here’s a good video in addition to Creations recommendations.


As Amy says for stockinette you can estimate a ratio of 3sts picked up for every 4 sts and for garter, 2sts picked up for every 3sts. I like to fold and then mark the halfway point and then fold each half to mark the 1/4 points in order to keep sts approximately evenly spaced out. This doesn’t have to be exact. It’ll look good no matter.

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