New here with questions, please help!

#1

Hi, I’m new to this site and need help with a sweater I’m making for my 5 yr. old son !!

I taught myself to knit about a yr. ago and can’t seem to get past the basics, so last month I decided to take the BIG leap and make an EASY to do sweat for my son, however I am having trouble with reading the directions, I kinda understand what they mean but actually doing the stiches its self is scary, I’m afraid I’m gonna make the wrong move and have to start over again.

Here’s my problem:

Shape neck: next row (RS) knit 18 sts… (did that) then join a 2nd. ball of yarn and loosely bind off center 8 sts., Knit 18 sts. Working both sides at the same time with separate balls of yarn, bind off 2 sts at each neck edge once, then DEC 1 st at each neck edge every other row twice. Work even until same length as Back to shoulder. Work 3-needle bind off on 14 sts for each shoulder seam. Bind off center Back 16 stitches.

My question is, How do you join a 2nd. ball of yarn in the center and what does it mean to DEC at the neck edge ??? Can someone explain this a little more clearly, some of these directions are hard to understand.

Thank you !!

#2

What you’re doing on the sweater is binding off the center stitches for the neck, and then working the shoulders. Since they’re not longer connected, you need to use two separate balls of yarn.

Knit the 18 with the yarn you’ve been using. Just drop that strand and start binding off the stitches with a new strand. You don’t have to do anything special to attach it since it will be so secure in the bind off. Just weave in the tail of the new yarn later.

Now you’ll have a strand at each shoulder.

When you bind off at the neck edge, make sure you do it at the beginning of that row.

For the dec–it means decrease–just knit two together at the neck edge. That can be done either at the beginning of the row or the end, as long as it’s at the neck edge.

Once you’ve done the bind off, you’ll be starting with the wrong side. Purl across the first side, drop the yarn, bind off two stitches at the edge opposite the bind off, and finish that row. Then knit across to the bind off section, and bind off two at the beginning of that row. That takes care of the two bind off rows.