Hi! This is my first time here but I am so stuck with a pattern and I’m worried that the pattern just doesn’t work mathematically!
I’m knitting the front panel of a sweater and am working on the neckline and the shoulder shaping at the same time. The pattern asks me to do this:
Shoulders: work in short row shaping leaving 5 stitches on hold at each end of the next 5 RS and WS rows (so eventually 25sts on hold on each side after 10 rows of work)
At the same time:
Neckline: At a distance of 3 cm from the start of the shoulder shaping, on the next RS row o the work, cast off the central 24 sts and continue working each side separately, beinding off at the start of each right side row of the work at the neckline edge as follows: 3sts 1 time, 2sts 1 time.
At the same time:
Bring back into the work the 25 sts put on hold from the shoulders and work 2 rows in reverse stockinette stitch, then cast off all the sts.
Now, all of this I can do, but the timing of them is off. I can still work the shoulder shaping when I’m casting off those middle neckline pieces, but I’ve run out of short rows to do by the time I’m doing the 3sts and 2sts decreases at the start of the next RS rows. Should I bring all those on hold sts back in earlier and then work in stocking stitch until the neck shaping is done? Does the neckline shaping have to be done earlier? Do I not knit the 3cm and just cast off the neckline earlier so it’s done before my short rows?
I’m so stuck and I’m nervous about my sleeve eventually not stitching into the armhole seam as it should. I have all the skills to do what I need to do but not the intuition to work out this pattern problem! Please help if you can!
(photo for reference of what I’ve tried to do on the left shoulder. I’ve brought the short rows back in before the neckline decreases are done and then just worked stocking stitch.)
Welcome to the forum.
Your knitting looks lovely.
What pattern are you working from?
And what is the gauge? How many rows per 10cm in the pattern, and how many rows per 10 cm in your own knitting?
From these gauges it can be calculated how many rows are intended in the pattern to be 3 cm (for instance at a row gauge of 30 row per 10 cm the 10 rows listed for shoulder shaping would be almost equal to 3 cm, 9 rows = 3 cm) and I think this will help you with your notes. I like how you’ve gone about working it out and taking notes, especially seeing what happens if you calculate backwards from the final bind off row, then 2 rows in rev stockinette. I think you’re almost there and only the gauge is missing. When patterns say x cm i find it useful to know how many rows do they intend, even though my own row gauge is unlikely to match and I might need to take my own row gauge into account, next to the pattern gauge.
At first look it seems to me that the bind off for the centre neck could be the last short row of the shoulder leaving the final 5 sts, row 9 and 10 being the right side and wrong side
Row 9 RS bind off centre stitches, work until 5 before the end of row, put 5 on hold (total now on hold 25), turn
Row 10 WS work back to neck edge, turn
Row 11 RS bind off 3 sts at neck edge, work right across including all the stitches on hold (in knit this is still stockinette)
Row 12 WS work back to neck edge in reverse stockinette (knit at it is WS), that’s 1 row of rev st st done. turn
Row 13 RS bind off 2 sts at neck edge, work across all sts to end of row in rev stockinette (purl), that’s 2 rows of rev stockinette done. Turn
Row 14 WS bind off all stitches (depending how you like to seam or what type of finishing is given in the pattern you can bind off in knit or in purl).
How does that sound?
Does this still have the problem of not having reached 3 cm by the neck bind off?
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Welcome to KnittingHelp!
Your careful planning and notes are impressive, and the knitting is beautiful and even.
Creations has given you a plan for the shaping. You can check the armhole depth and measure against a schematic if your pattern has one. You might also compare the armhole to a sweater you have with a similar type of sleeve. It’ll give you confidence that the armholes will accommodate the sleeve cap.
Hope you’re back to working this out on the needles. Let us know how it’s going.
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Thank you so much! This is so helpful!
I’ve found that in my own knitting 3cm takes me 10 rows. From the pattern it says 3cm should be 7 rows according to their gauge.
So, if I go by your maths, I think we find the in between (between my gauge and the pattern gauge). Does that make sense? So rather casting off on maybe row 7 as the pattern would suggest, casting off on row 9 like you suggest, rather than casting off row 11 as maybe my knitting would suggest (and doing random bonus rows of stocking stitch!)
Thank you so much for your help, will give updates on how I get on! Worst case scenario I knit the sleeve and need to undo a bit of my front panel to rework it later. I’d survive!
Thanks again for your advice. You’ve been such a help! Xx
It’s common for the sleeve cap to be a bit larger than the armhole. You would then keep everything flat under the arm and ease the excess sleeve cap across the top to make it fit smoothly.
It sounds like you have a plan.
Another option if you need to make up the difference between 7 and 11 rows could be to put the sts on hold more slowly for example holding 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5 this takes more rows for the same number of stitches so the angle will be roughly the same.
