Hello, I’m a relatively inexperienced knitter but have managed to make a couple of jumpers in the past. My current pattern, for a knitted waistcoat, asks me to decrease number of stitches from 169 to 141 as I move from the rib to Irish moss stitch for the main body of the pattern (I’m on the back section). It seems counterintuitive to reduce the number of stitches - is it normal??!
Welcome to the forum!
What is the name of your pattern and designer?
It’s not so unusual to decrease going from rib to the body of a pattern. It depends on the stitch patterns (rib to moss in this pattern) and the design. If the moss stitch has a wider gauge than the designer wanted, the pattern would call for these decreases.
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Thank you!
The pattern is from Prima magazine in Jan 24. Don’t think it has a designer as such. Bizarrely it doesn’t tell me to move onto larger needles but, when it outlines materials at the beginning, it identifies two different size needles so I assume I move onto the larger ones. I have seen better pattern descriptions! Thanks for your help.
Probably do move to larger needles but read through to make sure larger needles aren’t mentioned later for some other part of the sweater.
You can check that your stitch gauge and number of sts for the body will give you the correct bust measurement.
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Do you have a link to the pattern? Are you going to a larger needle when knitting the main body?
Thanks, I found it online and it does mention change of needles 
. It is where I expected, and still has decrease row.
Cheers, Nikki
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The online pattern is clearer re needle change. Thanks for your help.
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Very pretty with lovely details. Thank you for the pattern link and have fun working the vest!
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That’s a lovely pattern. I hope you’ll share progress pics.
If you have any more tricky bits don’t hesitate to ask, there’s always help here.
Sometimes, in printing off a pattern found online, the pages don’t line up correctly and you can miss some info. Maybe that’s what happened with the line about changing needles.
I once got a free pattern from a yarn store that was missing the first set-up row! So I had “Cast on 3 stitches, turn. Row 1: k1, ktbl, k1, slm, ktbl, k1 (5 sts)” So confusing!
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Hi, How confusing! I had the hard copy out of the magazine, I think it’s just a blip that they may have corrected on the online version. Anyway, I’ve now progressed to the moss stitch on the back! Cheers, Nikki
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Hi all, I am back rather late in the day with this pattern . I am now on the right hand side of the front. Although the pattern doesn’t seem to say it, I assume you reverse the cable stitch so it’s p2, C4F, PW! C4F, C4B, P2, C4B, P2 in order to mirror the other side (which starts P2, C4B etc.)? I hope the query is clear 
Hello
I don’t think you need to go to the effort of mirroring because the cable pattern (of the 3 cables) is mirrored anyway so worked the same way will come out the right way for right and left front.
I’ve marked up the 3 cables each front which might make the mirroring clearer to see.
What do you think?
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Hi!
Yes, I can see what you mean. I think I was overthinking it! I’ll give it ago following the standard pattern.
Thanks!
Nikki
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It was worth thinking about, not all patterns do mirror the cables and it was certainly worth a pause before starting to decide if changes needed to be made.
Enjoy working the second front.
You were right! It’s now coming along nicely. Thanks again!
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Hello again.
I’m on the final hurdle and now on the border rib which has button holes and I need help again. It says k2tog, cast on 2, ssk but, when I started and did two, the holes seem ver small. Are there any standard tricks for enlarging button holes (these are two stitches wide when I think they probably need to be four)? Many thanks.
You could work another type of buttonhole. In general, buttonholes may look small but when you start using them they tend to widen out. The problem then becomes getting the sweater to stay buttoned. Have you tried them with the buttons or with a similar size button?
If you decide to make a larger buttonhole, this one row buttonhole is very neat and can be made as large as you want.
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If you have your original swatch for the cardigan you can pick up stitches on it, like the buttonband and do a sample with 2 and 4 stitch holes to compare them. Put the button through lots of times and give the swatch and band a good stretch about and a workout to mimic real life and see how they hold up.
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Thank you. I came across this method on YouTube but this video is clearer . Very helpful.