Knitting First Sweater, Confused!

#1

[CENTER][B]I am currently working on my first sweater. I am an advanced knitter, I just have never attempted to knit a sweater before.

Anyway, I bought this pattern on Ravelry. Everything was going okay until I got to the point of working on the pocket. I’m going to post a bit of the instructions & I’ll underline the parts that confuse me. Here:

Right Pocket Welt

Row 1 - RS: K27 (32, 37, 42, 47, 52), p1, k1, p1, k1, p1.
Turn, placing rem sts on holder or waste yarn or leaving
on needle while separately working Right Pocket Welt.

Row 2: Sl 1 kwise, p1, k1, p1, k1, purl to m.

Row 3 - Dec Row: Knit to 8 sts before end of welt, ssk,
k1, p1, k1, p1, k1, p1. 1 st dec’d.

Cont to work pocket welt edge st, to work next 4 sts as
k1-p1 rib and to work rem of welt in St st, rep Dec Row
every 4th row 7 (7, 8, 8, 8, 8) more times.

Work WS row.

Work 4 (4, 0, 0, 0, 0) rows even.

Place pocket welt sts along with cable and edge sts on holder
or waste yarn making note of last cable row worked.

[U]Right Pocket
With new ball of yarn CO 32 (37, 42, 47, 52, 57) sts.
Beg on WS work in St st for 11 (13, 13, I5, 17, 17) rows.

Waist shaping
RS: Knit to end of pocket, place held sweater sts onto LH
needle and join, k0 (1, 1, 2, 2, 3), ssk, pm for 1st dart, k17
(21, 26, 30, 34, 38), pm for 2nd dart, k2tog, k39 (45, 51,
57, 65, 71), ssk, pm for 3rd dart, k17 (21, 26, 30, 34, 38),
pm for 4th dart, k2tog, knit to m. 4 sts dec’d.[/U]

Now, here is where I am confused. It tells me to cast on with a new ball of yarn & then work 13 rows, starting on the WS. Does it mean I am knitting a separate swatch flap to attach later? Do I CO the sts to the last bit of the previous row worked?

Also: It says to “knit to end of pocket”, huh? Those sts are on the waste yarn. What does it mean? Where do I start to knit again?

Finally: what is a “dart”? I think maybe if I knew what those were, these directions wouldn’t be so confusing.

Please help someone! Thanks in advance! :hug:

[/B][/CENTER]

#2

What a stunning sweater! Love it.
The pocket is a separate swatch. It’ll form the inside of the pocket and be continuous with the rest of the sweater. The pocket welt will form the outside pouch of the pocket. This swatch is completely separate, not CO to any other piece.
Here is where you join the pocket to the sweater. The directions to “knit to the end of the pocket” mean to work to the end of a RS row of this swatch, then knit across the held sts for the bulk of the sweater (not the held sts for the pocket welt).
Dart is a term borrowed from sewing for the shaping on a garment. Here it refers to the places along the main sweater body where you’ll be knitting two sts together to shape the waist.

#3

I am so sorry!! I totally thought I already replied to you! Thank you so much for the help!! It made so much more sense once you explained it! <3

#4

[CENTER]I need more help! Haha. So, I’m stuck on this part. It told me to take the held sweater sts onto LH needle & join, so I did. The remaining sts I was knitting did add up to the number it said it would. However, working the 6 rows, I assumed was all the way around the sweater to start on the waist. Decreasing seemed to work fine as well… that is until I got to the last repeat. It didn’t add up. I had above 72 extra sts from what it said I should have had. The only thing I can think of is that I wasn’t supposed to actually join the pocket or included them in knitting around the waist.

Any ideas on what I did wrong? Thanks in advance!!

[B]Left Pocket
With new ball of yarn CO 32 (37, 42, 47, 52, 57) sts.
Beg on WS work in St st for 12 (14, 14, I6, 18, 18) rows.
WS: Purl to end of pocket, place held sweater sts onto
LH needle and join, purl to end. 141 (167, 193, 219,
245, 271) sts.

Work even in St st for 6 rows.

RS - Dec Row: Knit to 2 sts before 1st dart m, ssk, knit
to 2nd dart m, k2tog, knit to 2 sts before 3rd dart m, ssk,
knit to 4th dart m, k2tog, knit to end. 4 sts dec’d.
Cont in St st rep Dec Row every 8th row 1 more time
then every 6th row 2 times then every 4th row 2 times.
117 (143, 169, 195, 221, 247) sts.

WS: Purl.

Place Right Pocket Welt and Right Cable sts onto a 3rd
needle. Work Right Cable; with sweater body needle in
back and pocket welt needle in front *knit st from front
needle tog with st from back needle, rep from * to end of
welt; knit to 24 (29, 33, 38, 43, 48) sts before cable m;
place Left Pocket Welt sts onto 3rd needle, with sweater
body needle in back and pocket welt needle in front *knit
st from front needle tog with st from back needle, rep
from * to end of sweater sts. 147 (173, 199, 225, 251,
277) sts.[/B][/CENTER]

#5

You should have the pocket sts joined to the rest of the sweater but the pocket welt sts are still on hold.
Which size are you making? How many sts do you have on the needle now?

#6

Thank you for always responding!

I don’t know why I had such a hard time with this pattern. I guess it’s because it isn’t straight up dumbed down for me so I freak out thinking I did something wrong.

I learned that if I just do literally everything the pattern says without doubt, it’ll come out fine.

I did almost finish the sweater until I had my boyfriend try it on (it’s for him) & it wasn’t big enough. Now I am taking it all out & starting over again. On the bright side… I’m way more comfortable with the pattern now so I’m hoping for a little bit of a quicker knit.

#7

It looks stunning! Your knitting is beautiful. Very nicely done.
Maybe you should finish it and keep it for yourself or someone else?

#8

Aw, that’s nice of you to say! I am never happy enough with my projects. I always realize something I could have done better & then I end up starting over again so I can get it perfect.

If he couldn’t fit it, I definitely can’t. I’m a bigger woman, so I was really sad to see it unravel. Also, I wouldn’t have wanted to waste that yarn that he bought for his sweater to be wasted, ya know?

#9

I understand.
Do appreciate how lovely your own work is.