I started knitting a Scarf Hat and got confused as to which round to start decreases.
Pattern beg. with size 8 cir.needle for 10 rnds. Inc. 4 sts on last rnd, chg to larger needles, work 19 rows in St. st. No problem.
Then it says under “Shaping”, work (18 rnds of Garter st and 20 rnds St st) 4 times, then work in St st for 66 rnds; at the same time, working dec rnds as foll always maintaining pat sequence. Proceeds to list which rnds & the instructions to decrease. Ex: Rnd 1, Rnd 18, Rnd 35 etc. My problem is it lists up to Rnd 238. If I add all the rnds. I get 237 without the ribbing and if I start decreasing under “Shaping” at the beginning of the 18 rnds of Garter st, I only have 218 rnds where I can dec. not 238. Can anyone HELP?
First, can you link to your pattern? If not, what’s it called and where did you get it?
If I’m reading it correctly, you start the decreasing with the first round on the larger needle. If you end up a round or two off at the end it won’t really matter that much, you can just go ahead and decrease on the last round. I might be misreading the instructions, if so, someone else will know better.
Thank you for your quick response! That’s what I was thinking but is it possible that it would have you increase by 4 sts on the last Rnd with the smaller needle and then decrease 4 sts on the first Rnd with the larger needle? What would be the purpose of doing that? The pattern is called Scarf Hat on Caron.com under One Pound yarn, under scarfs.
Thanks !
Is this your pattern?
Yes
OK, I’m sure that’s your pattern.
After you switch to the larger needles, it says to work 19 rows in stockinette. After that you begin the shaping instructions. I’m not up to the math involved in counting the rounds so I don’t know if it comes out right or not. Sorry. I’d figure out where I should decrease and just do it. Someone else should have a better answer for you.
That’s such a cute pattern I think I’ll use up some stash yarn and make it.
Right now I’m making fingerless gloves from the same yarn in denim color. It’s so soft! I know it gets fuzzy but that’s OK.
ETA Maybe what I’m using is One Pound baby. I think so.
That’s what I thought when I first read the pattern but if I start decreasing on the first Rnd after the 19 rows of St. sts. And do the math, I only have 218 rounds to decrease with not 238. And it doesn’t make sense to me to add 4 sts. before the 19 rows of St. st and then decrease 4 sts. on the first row of the 19 rows of St. sts. Have no idea what to do at this point. At a standstill.
Did you see the Notes section? It does say that there will be fewer rounds of garter or stockinette stitch between decrease rounds. I don’t know if that helps or not.
It’s not brain surgery or rocket science, or so I tell myself. If your scarf ends up a little longer or you fudge a bit on the rounds count, it really shouldn’t be a big problem. This morning I just can’t count to try to figure out what I’d do.
I do know what it meant by that in the note section and doesn’t apply to my problem. I guess I will start decreasing after the 19 rows of St. sts. and agree with you about not worrying if it is shorter. My granddaughter wanted a long stocking hat and this pattern is really too long for her. It is suppose to be 49.5" long! So if I am around 20 rows short that should be about 4" shorter. Still plenty long! Thanks again and good luck with yours.
I expect this will work out fine for you. I also expect that someone more alert and able to think it through will respond. I’d love to see a picture when you’re done!
I think you’re right to just proceed on with the knitting and decrease rows. You’re math is correct and the pattern just doesn’t add up. You may find that after the 4th repeat of alternate garter and st. st. rounds that you’d like to add in a fifth repeat sequence but with fewer rows in each section to get you to 238.
The increase after the cable rib and before the st.st. is to compensate for the difference is gauge between the two stitch patterns even counting the change to larger needles. That part is correct.
Thank you for your reply. I was starting to think it was my error & that I just didn’t understand the pattern even though I did the math. In the meantime I found another pattern that my granddaughter likes and wants me to make with pink & gray stripes.