Picking up stitches up: I have more sts than pattern

#1

Hi,
When you’re picking up stitches to make a ribbed band along the sides and back neck edge of a shrug, what do you do if you have lots more stitches than the pattern tells you to pick up. For instance, along the back neck edge, it says to pick up 32, but there are 38 stitches. Shouldn’t I just pick up the 38?

Along the side it’s more complicated. I divided the left side, which requires I pick up 130 stitches into fourths:
first quarter - 32
snd quarter - 33
3rd quarter - 32
4th quarter - 33

Now starting the 3rd quarter, I notice I have about four or five extra stitches. Is it OK to pick those up as long as I keep track and make sure to pick up the same amount on the other side?

THanks!
N

#2

First of all why do you have more stitches? Did you change the size or something?

#3

Along the back neck, you should be picking up the same number as on the neck. Along the edges, pick up about 3 sts for every 4 edge st. If it’s just a ribbed edging pick up the number of sts you need to make it lay flat without being bunched up or stretched. Your st and row gauge may be a little different, so you may need a different number of sts than the pattern says.