So, the saga continues. I asked the company who wrote the pattern the following:
‘Can you find out if, when picking up stitches, we should be picking them up from the inside, thus travelling anti-clockwise around the garment? I had the sweater around the right away (i.e. not inside out) and picked the stitches up travelling clockwise hence the first row worked meant I was working the wrong side of the work’
and received this in response:
'Hi Jacqui, this is the knitting team. We have been forwarded with your question. We’re sorry you have been having trouble with the pattern.
As Vincent has said, the right side and wrong side are not specified in intermediate patterns since the common thing is odd rows>>right side and even rows>>wrong side.
We have noticed that you might have skipped a step in the first row of the neck, as the pattern says to purl 1 after the first CDD, and then repeat the *knit 1, purl 1 * 18 times.
Row 1: knit 1, purl 1. Repeat from * to * 33 [35, 35, 35] times.
CDD,
purl 1,
and repeat from * to * 17 [18, 18, 18] times.
CDD,
purl 1.
Repeat from to * until there is 1 stitch left,
knit 1.
You will have a total of 133 [137, 137, 137] stitches.
Please make sure to count the stitches that you have to start with, as they should be 141. This pattern has been knitted before and it has never give us any trouble.’
So, I assume I have to pick the stitches up with the wrong side of the work facing. This has put a ridge along the front of the work, which is every noticeable but seems to be the only way to pick up the stitches so that my first worked row is on the right side. Is this normal? thank you x