I am knitting a free, charted pattern. The instructions for the back of the sweater are, > Using 3.5 mm needles, cast on 118 sts and work in
k2,p2 rib for 5 cm, beg and end 1st row with k2.
Change to 4 mm needles and patt st (see chart), evenly dec 3 sts in 1st row and beg with 14th st in chart [115 ]
The chart looks like this:
I understand I can use a knitting calculator to figure out when to do the decreases. However, do I do a row of decreases and then begin the chart? Or do I do my decreases while doing the first row of the chart?
And if its the latter, how do I read my stitches (ie tell which stitch I’m on) if I’m also actively decreasing (If I decrease at the 20th stitch, then what was the 22nd stitch is now the 21st)? Would I say I’m on the 35th stitch if there are 34 stitches on my right needle?
And lastly, do I repeat the last 20 stitches of the chart (and do my decreases) until I’m at 115 stitches? There’s only 40 stitches depicted on the chart.
Thank you! That’s a lot of questions, I know. This is my first charted pattern! Eek!