I am hooked.. but stuck

How-to Questions
1

Some of you know me as the guy with the boat bumper… lol… I am just trying out this so I learn how to read the pattern… so question… I am trying this line…

Baby afghan measures approximately 35" by 42"

Materials:

* Sport weight acrylic yarn, 15 oz. Off White
* Size 5 knitting needles
* Size 6 knitting needles 

  Or size to obtain gauge.

Gauge: 25 stitches = 4 1/4", 14 rows of shell panel repeat = 2"

Shell Panel (make 7)
With larger needles, cast on 25 stitches.

Row 1 (right sides): Knit (k) 3, purl § 4, k1, p4, k1, p4, k1, p4, k3.

Row 2 and all even rows: Knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches as they face you.

*what does (right sides) mean? i googled and couldn’t come up with an answer that made sense.
*note: i am just testing this out… giving it a try… So, i have done line 1 as instructed. but here is the kicker for me… now if i look at all my ribs (or stitches) it looks like i have extra bumps or stitches. it seems like it is on the transitions from the k to the p… does this make sense? Where do I follow line two? See what I mean? Hope I don’t seem like a nagging question. Thanks sooo much.

2

I think your yarn is in the wrong position when you are transitioning from knit to purl (or visa versa). Review the videos on this site to see if you are knitting and purling correctly. But you need to make sure that when you are coming from a knit stitch and about to do a purl stitch that you bring the yarn from the back to the front, between the needles and THEN perform the purl stitch, and then make sure you put the yarn in the back, going between the needles when you go from a p to a k.

Hope that helps. That’s a very common mistake (I know, b/c I made it when I started knitting.)

3

In fact I’m sure that is what you’re doing, if you count the stitches you should only have 25, and you have many more than that on your needle.

What you are accidently doing is called a Yarn Over (YO), you intentionally do this when you are making eyelets, but it is always followed by a decrease so that your number of stictches stays the same.

4

Ok, sorry I realized I didn’t answer all your questions, the RIGHT SIDE (RS), is the side you will display. Think right side and wrong side of your shirt. However you are doing ribbing, and ribbing looks the same on both sides (as does garter and seed stitch), so technically the right side is whatever side you choose (you can keep track by observing which side you cast on string lies right or left ie: when I’m working the right side my string is always on the left side). But it doesn’t matter in this case.

5

Thank you thank you thank you… :notworthy: I will try this out tonight and see what I am doing wrong… I am guessing there is not a video of how to transition between the two… will poke around and see if there is one.

6

Right sides is to tell you that Row 1 and all odd rows will be the RS (or patterned) side of the piece.

You brought your yarn over the needles when you switched from knit to purl sts, so you will have more sts. That’s why it’s called a ‘yarn over/YO’ in a pattern, so you’ve learned how to do that. It’s either an increase or puts holes in your knitting on purpose, for lacey things. In lace knitting they would be offset by decreases so your stitch count stays the same.

When you do row 2, you knit the sts that look like knits or Vs and purl the sts that look like purls or bumps [I]on the row you’re doing[/I]; don’t try and figure out what you did to the sts on the previous row - you’ll go insande. And even once you get the yarn moved correctly, it’ll take a few rows for the stitch pattern to show up.

7

Here’s a video on youtube showing ribbing, and you can see how she moves the yarn from back to front.

Happy knitting :slight_smile:

8

Even though you’re not doing ribbing, the video might help you out because it’s knitting and then purling, alternating, and that’s what you’re doing-- well, but not in ribbing. But sort of, it’s just a very elongated rib.:slight_smile: Okay, let’s leave that mess of an explanation and try this: Go to Videos at the top of this page, click on Tips and go to Basic Stitches. That has Ribbing in there.

And no question is too simple and there’s no such thing as too many! There are folks on here who have knit entire sweaters with pretty much asking a question every other stitch. We’ve all been there, no one’s born knowing how to do this.

9

once again bow down to the knitting legends… thank you so much… that youtube helped me out!!! wow so amazing…:knitting: :notworthy:

10

It’s a sort of rib, not all of them have equal number of knit and purl sts.

11

so I was able to get row 1 completed as instructed… wow that worked so well.

regarding your quote. correct me if i am thinking wrong… basically i need to do row 1 over BUT backwards?? well, after looking at the pattern, it is equal either way you look at it… am i right?

12

Yes, that’s the way it works out. . .so if you had a pattern that let’s say, had 18 sts and on Row 1, you K5 P2 K7 P4, on Row 2, you’d be starting at the end you’d just finished and would K4 P7 K2 P5. Which would be knitting in the Vs and purling in the bumps. This tends to make a lot more sense once you’ve gotten a few rows done. It’s the first couple, where the Vs and bumps are harder to distinguish where it’s trickier.

13

heheh thanks… because I was like “what v’s and what bumps” lol… everything looks like bumps… thanks…

14

A couple of general pattern hints. . .
See where it says gauge? That 25 sts = 4.25"? First of all, that’s unusual. They usually tell you how many sts for 4" or 10cm. But because the pattern is for 25 sts, they just said what that total is supposed to measure. This is for a baby blanket, which you want to be generally the recommended finished size, but a couple of inches more or less won’t kill it. So you would want to get the gauge to be pretty close, but it’s not nearly as important here as it would be in other situations. Let’s say you wanted to knit a sweater for the darling baby in your avatar. If you were supposed to get 16 sts per 4", which is 4 sts per inch, and you were getting 5 per inch instead, that doesn’t seem like much. But if the sweater were supposed to be 22 inches around and so you were supposed to cast on 88 sts (22" X 4 = 88), with the gauge of 5 sts per inch, you’d end up with a sweater only 18" around, and a very uncomfortable baby. So it’s very important in clothing to get the gauge. Scarves and afghans, not so much.

Also, they give you needle sizes. Those are what the pattern writer used to get that gauge. But many people have to go up or down several needle sizes to get the right gauge, and that’s perfectly fine.

And of course, if you use different colors from what they have indicated in the pattern, your knitting won’t explode:) .

15

Well, better bumps than holes.:slight_smile:

16

Ok, here is my first swatch ( i guess you call it )… now, this is test yarn and not what is suggested in the instructions. It says ‘sport yarn’ which I am guessing is smaller and softer? I also am using size 7 needles.

suggestions, comments.?
here are the full instructions for this swatch I have done.
Materials:

* Sport weight acrylic yarn, 15 oz. Off White
* Size 5 knitting needles
* Size 6 knitting needles 

  Or size to obtain gauge.

Gauge: 25 stitches = 4 1/4", 14 rows of shell panel repeat = 2"

Shell Panel (make 7)
With larger needles, cast on 25 stitches.

Row 1 (right sides): Knit (k) 3, purl § 4, k1, p4, k1, p4, k1, p4, k3.

Row 2 and all even rows: Knit the knit stitches and purl the purl stitches as they face you.

Row 3: K2, yarn over (yo), k1, p2, p2 together (tog), k1, p4, k1, p4, k1, p 2 tog, p2, k1, yo, k2.

Row 5: K3, yo, k1, p3, k1, p2, p 2 tog, k1, p2 tog, p2, k1, p3, k1, yo, k3.

Row 7: K4, yo, k1, p1, p 2 tog, k1, p3, k1, p3, k1, p 2 tog, p1, k1, yo, k4.

Row 9: K5, yo, k1 ,p2, k1, p1, p 2 tog, k1, p 2 tog, p1, k1, p2, k1, yo, k5.

Row 11: K6, yo, k1, p 2 tog, k1, p2, k1, p2, k1, p 2 tog, k1, yo, k6.

Row 13: K7, yo, k1, p1, k1, p 2 tog, k1, p 2 tog, k1, p1, k1, yo, k7.

Row 14: repeat Row 2. Repeat Rows 1-14 for pattern until piece measures 40", end with a Row 14. Bind off.

17

Sport yarn is thinner than worsted weight. If you look at the label, there should be a little drawing of a skein of yarn, and inside of it will be a number from “0” to “6”. “0” is for very, very thin yarn, like you’ll get 900 yds for 2 oz. And “6” is super bulky, so just a few yards for those same 2 oz. But softer?-- well, that depends on the yarn. You might find some very stiff fairly raw wool or badly spun acrylic in sport (“3”), but an incredibly soft merino wool in a bulky (“5”). But the thing is that since this is a blanket and the size isn’t as important, using a different weight of yarn will be okay. You just want to use the size needles though, that give you the texture you want. If what you’re using is a worsted weight (“4”) and you use the same needles, the resulting fabric will be more dense than if you use a sport (“3”) yarn. But for a blanket, if you find a worsted yarn you really like and use a larger size needle so that there’s still some drape and flow to the resulting fabric, then go for it. Where are you getting your yarn?

As for how it looks-- again, as with your boat bumpers, your sts are amazingly even, and it definitely seems to be taking on a shell pattern. But I haven’t tried a swatch following those instructions, so I don’t know exactly how it’s supposed to appear, but other than that, it looks great. Because of copyright, you can’t just scan and print the entire pattern. But do you have a link for it, or the name of the book and page you got it from? Then we can see the hoped for outcome:)

18

Oh, and here’s the weight chart: http://www.yarnstandards.com/weight.html
They actually have sport as a “2”, but it depends on the manufacturer. The pattern you’re using doesn’t give a specific yarn and company, but again, as a blanket, whatever works best for you will be okay. I’m sure Owen will drool all over it appreciatively no matter what:) .

19

Wow, that is some useful information that I am only guessing will take time to understand… I can take apart car engine or pc with no issues but that seems so foreign to me… which I accept because i have NEVER touched yarn before. Where did I get this yarn? In my boat bumper post I mentioned a co-worker felt sorry for me and lent me some yarn and needles. Both are what I am using now on this swatch.

Thank you regarding my stitches being even, that makes me very proud. :woot: How rude of me not to include the full article or instructions. This was from a ‘free’ pattern place online. here is the link.
http://www.craftyarncouncil.com/projects/baby.html
You can see what it ‘should’ look like. Now, I invested the hours into this swatch for only one reason… Learn how to read the instructions… I would LOVE to make this blanket but I wanted to make a section of it first before I purchased all the stuff. I also need to get to a store and get different needles and yarn.
Here is my issue, if I mess up ( as in gain a stitch some how) i have no way of fixing it other than striping it out and start over… I have watched the video’s over and over but have not gained the skill to spot my error or how to recover from it. This I have accepted to learn over time.

Question: it says 15oz of yarn… lol my smart answer would be to take a scale with me to buy the yarn… but how do you know how much 15oz is?

20

If you can manage the insides of a car or a PC, knitting is going to be a piece of cake. There are only a few concepts-- casting on, casting off (also called binding off), knit, purl, increase and decrease. It’s all just variations of that, and if you’re at all mathematical and detailed, which obviously you are, it’ll all make sense to you.

The mistake fixing will take time, but eventually you’ll be able to see what you’ve done and not have to rip back at all, or at least not much. When you do stockinette stitch (knit 1 row, purl 1 row) it’s much easier to see errors than with more complicated sts. By the way, going back a little bit is called Tinking (knitting, backwards, get it?:slight_smile: ) and really having to tear back is called frogging (rip it, rip it:) )

I asked about where you were getting your yarn, because if it’s at Jo-anns or Hobby Lobby or AC Moore or Michaels places, you probably won’t find the staff to be much help, but there are brands and types within those brands that we here can help you with and make suggestions for. If you’re going to an LYS (knitters lingo for Local Yarn Shop), the person there might be very helpful (you’ll find posts here about wonderful LYS owners and Wicked Witch of the West LYS owners:) ). But if so, you have all your knitting aunties here on this forum. Oops-- and uncles, Mason and Mike et al!:teehee:

As for the weight-- there are 2 things to consider. One is the amount given in the pattern and the other is the yardage. The weight of the skein or ball of yarn will be on its label. It’ll say 2.5 oz or 6 oz, or whatever. Sport yarn tends to get about 90 - 110 yards per oz, let’s say 100 for the sake of argument. So you need about 1500 yds for the blanket. The number of yds in the skein will also be on its label. Unless it’s a very high end, expensive yarn, I personally always get an extra skein, just to be safe.

I’ll have a look at the pattern in a bit.