Mermaid help. PLEASE

#1

[B][COLOR=“Magenta”]Hi

I am attempting a big knit, i wanted to make a mermaid tail but have never knitted on 3 needles and finding it hard any help to understand the pattern will be greatly appreciated. [/COLOR][/B]

Divide for the mermaid fins. Thread the waste yarn onto the yarn needle and slip half the stitches to the waste yarn to work later. Divide the remaining stitches evenly over three needles.
5 [COLOR=“Magenta”][B]I have 60 in total so have placed ten each on 3 needles[/B][/COLOR]

Knit the first round [COLOR=“Magenta”][B](is a round classes as all 3 needles together or each needle?),[/B][/COLOR] placing a marker at the beginning of the round and at the halfway point [COLOR=“Magenta”][B](does that mean the halfway point would be on the third 2nd needle)[/B][/COLOR]. Knit two stitches together, knit to the next marker, knit two stitches together, slip the marker,[B][COLOR=“Magenta”](what does this mean)[/COLOR][/B] knit two stitches together, knit to two stitches before the end of the round, then knit those two stitches together. Knit three rounds without shaping. Repeat the last four rounds until you have less than five stitches remaining.

[B][COLOR=“Magenta”]I am so confused, how do i even start which needles to i use to start my knitting is the first needle with 10 ten stitches and then use a fourth needle or do i pick up the second needle with other set of ten on it?

So sorry if this is confusing please please please help me.[/COLOR][/B]

#2

Wow, what fun! I’ve never knit a mermaid’s tail.
You’ve done the right thing in dividing the sts. A round counts as knitting 30sts or all the sts on all 3 needles. The halfway point is between sts 15 and 16 so if stitch one is on needle 1 and stitch 30 is on needle 3, sts 15 and 16 are on needle 2.
When you have the markers in place and you’ve knit one round, you’re back to the marker before stitch one. Move the marker from the left to the right needle. Knit sts one and two together (k2tog). Knit to two sts before the next marker (sts 14 and 15) k2tog, move the marker to the right needle, k2tog, and knit to two sts before the end of the round and k2tog.
When you knit with double pointed needles and are using 3 needles to hold the sts, you’ll use the fourth needle as the working needle. Take it in your right hand and knit the sts from needle one onto it.Once all the sts have been knit off needle one, it’s free and it becomes the working needle.
There’s a video for k2tog on the Glossary page if you need it. Here’s a video for dpns that may make it clearer too.

#3

thanks for the help. i am still finding it tricky. Do u think i could just use circular needles. I am unsure how to do my decreasing if I use circular is it even poss do u think?

#4

Yeah, you could use circs. Use markers to designate the end of each needle and from there you could do whatever you’re instructed for each needle. You could use 2 circs or magic loop. One “needle” would end up being split if you work with 2 circs. It would be possible to do both fins at the same time, depending on your experience and comfort level. I recently did Henry’s Rabbit on circs and it’s written for dpn.