Hey everyone! I’m new here and relatively new to knitting and am confused by this pattern. Would anyone be able to help me understand it? It’s a sweater vest, the body is in moss stitch with two cables.
So my understanding of moss stitch is that it has 2 repeating K1P1 rows like a rib, then the next two are the opposite (P1K1), and so on repeating every 4 rows total. So since this is knitted flat, I would have expected that in Row TWO, all of Row ONE’s knit’s would be purls and vice versa since you’re “knitting the knits & purling the purls” on the second row. However the section in between the two cables that says "K1, (P1, K1) 19 (20, 22, 23, 25) times) is exactly the same on both rows, even though all of the other other stitches are the inverse of each other when compared to the previous row.
Is this a mistake or correct? I haven’t knitted in moss stitch before except some samples, so I’m just trying to understand before I mess up this vest
What size are you doing? As with rib, the first stitch you do on the next row depends on whether you have an odd or even number of stitches. The numbers in the brackets at the end of the row might be making a difference here, but I’m not entirely sure!
Welcome to KH and to knitting!
The definition of moss stitch varies from one pattern to the next. Your definition is the commonly accepted one, a 4 row pattern. This vest however is actually knit in seed stitch, a 2 row pattern.
You could change it to moss stitch or just leave as seed stitch as you wish.
Thanks so much for responding! Great point about the extra K/P on the ends maybe making a difference. I’m doing the 2nd size in the parentheses (starts with cast on 106). Here it is with my sizes written out:
No problem as salmonmac also mentioned, this vest is a different pattern than “standard” moss stitch (seed stitch and moss are easily confused!), so I’m guessing you do need to work each row as stated because it should alternate after every 2nd row to form the pattern.
It’s a really nice looking vest, anyway.
I’d suggest taking it slowly, trusting the pattern, but do come and ask if you have any more questions!
@salmonmac@Shintoga both your tips helped me figure it out. I had no idea that “moss stitch” might be referring to seed stitch depending on the pattern - no wonder I couldn’t get things to line up to the moss stitch I was reading about online. I also hadn’t considered how the extra K / P on the ends might affect things. I’ve only really knit in the round before so I’m not used to thinking about the wrong side as often.
I ended up drawing it out and now it makes total sense how this creates seed stitch! Posting it here in case anyone was interested.
The first row is the Row 1 pattern from left to right. The second row is what the “wrong side” of that will look like. The third row is Row 2 pattern, from right to left (since you’re knitting on the wrong side). Each spot has a K against a P or vice versa, which perfectly creates seed stitch. Now I can follow the pattern with confidence! I feel like I learned more about knitting from this
as salmonmac also mentioned, this vest is a different pattern than “standard” moss stitch (seed stitch and moss are easily confused!), so I’m guessing you do need to work each row as stated because it should alternate after every 2nd row to form the pattern.
