I’m working on my first sweater. I’m almost done knitting the sleeves, but I am stuck on the sleeve caps. I have already bound off 2 sts at the beginning of the first two rows. After that I need to dec 2 sts at each end every two rows three times. I know that i need to start dec 1 st in (for a neater edge), but how do i dec twice without the edge looking bumpy. So i work two decreases side by side? i dunno! I’m stumped. Also, should i work the decreases on the same row or at the beginning of every row? I’m so frustrated! i really want to finish the sleeves. Can anyone offer some helpful suggestions, please!
On the rows where you are decreasing, decrease one stitch at the start of the row (2nd stitch) and one at the end (next to last stitch). Just like how you bound off at the start of two consecutive rows, pairing your decreases on each end will help to shape the sleeve cap evenly.
I get what you’re saying–but I have to decrease twice at the end of each row, not just once at each end. Thanks for trying to help me!
Do you have a link to the pattern? You may have to keep binding off sts, not just decrease them.
No, I don’t have a link to the pattern. the pattern reads as follows for sleeve cap:
bind off 2sts at beginning of next two rows, then i decrease as follows (at both ends of sleeve cap)
every 2 rows-2sts-3x’s
2-1-3
2-2-2
2-1-5
2-2-3
knit 2 rows straight
i end up with 18sts on my needle that i need to bind off. If i have to bind of, instead of decreasing, do i start the bind off’s 1 st in from edge?
“every 2 rows-2sts-3x’s”
That doesn’t mean dec 2 sts on both sides, but 1 on each side; it’s referring back to “dec at both ends”. So you dec 2 sts every other row 3 times, and so on.
I understand what you mean, but the instructions specify that i dec every two rows 2sts (at each end of dec rows) 3 times. here’s a more thorough breakdown of the instructions:
Every 2rows decrease 2sts 3x’s
every 2rows decrease 1st 3x’s
" " 2sts 2x’s
" " 1st 5x’s
" " 2sts 3x’s
i start decreasing 1st at each end after my first 3 decreases. i need to know how to decrease more than once at each end of a row! do i bind off? if so, how?
[FONT=Verdana]That should read, “bind off 2 sts at the beginning of the next two rows”… meaning, bind off 2 at the beginning of the right side and then beginning of the wrong side row & do that 3 times. It’s worded weirdly. I’d be confused too. [/FONT]
here’s a more thorough breakdown of the instructions:
Every 2rows decrease 2sts 3x’s
Should read “bind off 2 sts beg of every other row three times.”
every 2rows decrease 1st 3x’s
this should mean dec one st each end every other row 3 times
" " 2sts 2x’s
again, I would say that means bind off at the beginning of the next two rows twice.
" " 1st 5x’s
dec 1st each end of next 5 rows
" " 2sts 3x’s
bind off 2 sts at the beginning – I would assume since it’s three times they mean every RS row… otherwise it would be lopsided.
i start decreasing 1st at each end after my first 3 decreases. i need to know how to decrease more than once at each end of a row! do i bind off? if so, how?
Yes, you bind off at the beginning. Any time it says to decrease more than one stitch at the beginning of a row it means bind off. If it’s dec at the beginning &/or end, it means one stitch unless it’s telling you to decrease 10 sts evenly across a row or something to that effect.
After this, a good, clearly worded pattern will seem a breeze to you. Bind off videos here in case that’s also what you were asking when you said “… if so, how?”
I hope this helps 
It is a confusing direction but you’ll often see it. You can bind off at the beginning of a row but not so easy to do at the end of a row. So instead of [U]decreasing[/U] “at each end of every right side row”, [U]bind off[/U] at the beginning of every row. I would even bind off for the 1 st decreases just to be consistent rather than have 1 st decreases show up in scattered rows of the cap. The overall appearance of symmetrical decreases is what you’re aiming for.
You can check that you have it right by adding the total number of decreased sts to the 18 sts remaining and you should get the number of sts before you started any bind off.
Yes, they really mean 'BO at each [I]side[/I]" of the item, rather than each [I]end[/I] of the rows. So you BO on the WS rows too.
And in european patterns, bind off gets translated as decrease; you are ‘decreasing’ the stitch numbers, but for more than one st, you do need to BO.
Oohhh… I didn’t know that… the European patterns translate bind off (or cast off, which is what I thought they used) as “decrease.” This is good to know.
It makes more sense to BO at at the beginning of every right and wrong side row. Thanks for all the helpful input and speedy responses! I have a another question. I noticed that BO at the beginning of each right/wrong side row creates a jagged edge. Is there anyway I can prevent that? Can the edge be made to look neater somehow?
You could do a dec on the first st, then BO the 2nd one, that’ll smooth out the edge.
RS row - ssk, k1, pass stitch over.
WS row - p2tog, p1 pass stitch over.