How to keep track of 2 differs decreases/shaping

I am pretty new to knitting sweaters. I am working on the Victoria sweater. It is a free pattern on Ravelry.
Here is the link
https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/victoria-19/slideshow?fullscreen=1&start=12226889

I have completed the back and I am on the right front.
I have started shaping the neckline and completed the 9th buttonhole and 5 sets of the neckline decrease.
Now I am supposed to continue with the neckline decrease AND at the same time shape the armhole.
What is confusing me is that I do not know how to keep track of doing two different things at the same time, sometimes on the same row and sometimes on different rows. Do I need to literally write out each row and what I need to decrease?
What do you all do in these situations?
Any help is very appreciated!

1 Like

I make myself a sort of diagram. I draw upright lines to represent all the rows, and I put a mark on the decrease rows. Then I cross them off as I go.

So I might put a green blob on top of the line for one kind of decrease and a red blob on the bottom for the other.

Other people may have better ideas! I think you can do something clever with graph paper to draw out the rows.

1 Like

Here’s my diagram, showing four rows completed. This would be for one type of decrease every four rows (green blob), and the other type every eight rows (red blob).

knitting counting

1 Like

That’s a clever (and colorful) way to keep track, kushami.
I make a chart with the row numbers in one column, an x or dot for the decrease rows at the neckline in a second column and the armhole shaping in a third column. These last 2 columns are aligned with the appropriate row in the first column. Like you, I cross off the rows as I work them just to maintain sanity.

1 Like

For me it depends on how confusing or how many times I need to do it.
If its not so many I just write down the row numbers in two lines and at the start of each row I check if the row is listed or not
Eg
Dec at neck rows 2, 6, 10, 14
Dec at arm rows 2, 4, 6, 8, 10
I use a row counter in my needles so I do have to check off the decreases done but if I have a pencil close by I’ll cross them off as I do them.
If it’s more complex I make a chart much like salmonmac described.
Frequently I write down the actual type of decrease such as ssk or k2tog
Eg
Neck ssk rows 2, 6, 10…
Armhole k2tog rows 2, 4, 6…
And if it needs to be mirrored for the other side I write that out too.

2 Likes

That sounds very organised. I often wonder whether archeologists in the future will puzzle over my chicken scratches :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Sort of a new cuneiform? That’ll be a good puzzle indeed.

1 Like

I always wonder if archaeologists of the future will conclude we worshiped poop. Humans preserve so much poop in plastic bags (dog poop, cat littler poop, baby nappy poop…) it’s like we are trying to keep it for ever. How baffling will that be in the far future?
Sorry, totally off topic.

2 Likes

Thank you all for those suggestions. I’m going to play around with making my version of a chart.
I’ll let you know how it goes.

Naomi Brooks RM MScCH

3 Likes