New to knitting- I need help!

General Knitting
1

Hi. I am new to this site and very new to knitting. I am confused on my first project. I have mostly learned from youtube and google up to this point.

I am wondering if someone can help me- I am trying to knit a sweater for my son. I made half of it once and had to unravel the whole thing because the creases in the sleaves didn’t match up.

The first part I am a little confused with is it says to cast on 68 and then garter stitch 5 rows- which I did. It proceeds through the entire chest/shoulder region and then has a divide for the fronts, sleeves and back. when i got to that point (the first time) i was on the left of the sweater when i was suppose to be on the right- i have no idea how that happened- i was on the right side of the work and all but the wrong side of the sweater. i don’t even know if it matters.

The second issue was the creases for the sleeves. the pattern has a whole lot of M1 K1 and place a marker- all in all there were 4 markers. the next line says to knit to the marked st. M1 K1 M1 and repeat 3 more times and ten knit to the end of the row. The alternate rows are purled. Then you repeat those 2 rows 14 times down to the divide for the sleeves. I did this (and it took me over a week) and when I finally got to the divide the seams for the sleeves were a mess! Also, it is in a stipe pattern, so it is very obvious that I didn’t do it right. My question is where do I put the marker on each row when I knit to it- after the first M1? I just kept the marker in the same place (before M1K1M1) on each row but that is how it was off the first time.

Sorry this is so long, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

2

Can you post a link to the pattern? That might help us be more constructive in our comments.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but on the surface, this sounds like a pattern I would save for my 2nd or 3rd sweater. I have found that it takes knitting a few of them to get it straight in your head how they are constructed and how all the pieces fit together. In some ways, knitting sweaters is like those IQ tests where they give you a flat shape and ask you how it would look if you folded it up. It just takes a while to see the patterns.

3

Well, I can’t be sure, but you may have just started that section on the wrong side. Usually there are two sides to the sweater so you can just do that side first instead.

Always post a link to the pattern whenever possible, it helps us help you.

4

Ok, it took me a while, but I think I managed to attach the pattern. It says it is easy, that’s why I tried it first. Any help would be great. Thanks!

5

Unfortunately, it’s against copyright law to post a pattern from a book. If you would name the pattern and the book, that would help.

It does look as though it’s a top down raglan where you separate the sleeve sts, knit the body, then go back and finish the sleeves. You should go back to the end of the row you divided the sts on, then do a WS row, then start the body stitches.