Hi there! My name is Madison and it’s my first time posting on this forum! I’ve been working on my first sweater (PTO-031_02 LANGYARNS CLOUD) and I’m almost done knitting the back panel but am running into trouble shaping the neck and shoulders.
I think was able to successfully complete the step title “shape neck and shoulders: next row (RS)”, leaving me with 27 stitches left on my needle. Then I started on the next step and bound off 9 stitches at the beginning of the WS row, purled to the end, flipped the work, bound off 1 stitch on the RS, and finished knitting that row. Now I am left with 27-9-1=17 stitches left on my needle. However, to finish the left shoulder it says I need to bind off 9 stitches on the next row, and then another 9 after that, for a total of 18, leaving me 1 stitch short.
Did I misinterpret the pattern somewhere? Or is the pattern wrong? And if so, what’s the best way to work around this? Also, is there a specific bind off I should be using here? I just used a standard bind off but I am worried that it might not fit over my head. Any guidance would be so appreciated!
Hurrah for first sweaters!
Nice yarn colour and pattern too.
You are correct about the error in the pattern.
There are several comments on ravelry about this pattern having errors in the stitch counts and that the pattern has not been corrected despite many people reporting it (for a paid pattern I’d expect a correction). There may be some errata somewhere but I can’t see it.
For this part there’s no harm in the final bind off being 8, rather than 9 stitches. It isn’t going to make a big difference in the sweater, just do both sides the same and keep a note of it.
I read on a little though and personally feel the right shoulder is not shaped symetrically to match the left.
The left has
9 arm edge, 1 neck edge, 9 arm edge, final 8 from arm edge (the neck stitch is decreased on the very next row after neck bind off)
The right has
9 arm edge, 9 arm edge, 1 neck edge, final 8 from arm edge (the neck stitch is decreased on the 3rd row after the neck bind off)
Personally I’d alter this. Rejoining yarn to the WS of the right shoulder I would put that neck decrease immediately there, the first row following the neck bind off, to match the left side.then continue with the arm edge shaping on the right side rows, 9 and 8.
If you want to tink back the neck bind off you can bind off more loosely by using a larger needle size for just the neck bind off stitches. I often go 1mm bigger but sometimes maybe more to stop the edge being tight.
Tink is knit backwards are you familiar with it? https://youtu.be/QLdaqe24m-w?si=B6qSNR16T_7dYmWP
You’d need to go a few rows back now undoing each stitch to get down to the neck bind off but it is a very controlled way where your stitches are safe rather than just pulling them out.
For the actual bound off stitches you’d need to lift the bound off stitch back up onto the right needle before tinking the stitch before it.
Then you can bind off with a bigger needle.
The neck hole with be a combination of the straight part across and the shaping and will have more shaping on the front, so there probably will be enough neckhole to get your head in so long as the bind off isn’t tight. (Unless you made a size too small, or gauge didn’t match or a variety of other factors).
I hope this helps, please let us know how you get on or if you need more help with this part or another part of the pattern.
Your response is super helpful. Glad I’m not going crazy. I’ve learned to tink before so I think I will go back and loosen the neck a bit then continue to make the left/right side symmetrical as you’ve described.
Hopefully all goes well! If I have anymore questions I will definitely post here again!
You’re welcome. I’m glad to be able to help.
I think this pattern had some stitch count errors in the front for some sizes so you may need to check it all makes sense.
From your progress pic though, it’s going o be fabulous, the colours are juicy.
