Please help, I’m stuck on a pattern!

I’ve finished the back of a sweater, and I can’t make sense of the front.

this is where I am:

  • Shape front neck
    Next row (RS): Patt 87 [91: 98: 103: 111] sts and turn, leaving rem sts on a holder. Work each side of neck separately.
    Keeping patt correct, dec 1 st at neck edge of next 1 [1: 3: 3: 5] rows, ending with RS facing for next row. 86 [90: 95: 100: 106] sts.
    Shape shoulder
    Keeping patt correct, cast off 5 [6: 6: 6: 7] sts at beg of next and foll 2 [11: 5: 0: 6] alt rows,then 6 [-:7:7:8] sts at beg of foll 9 [-:6:11:5] alt rows and at same time dec 1 st at neck edge of next 5 [5:3:3:1] rows,then on foll 5 [5:6:6:7] alt rows, then on foll 4th row.
    Work 1 row.
    Cast off rem 6 [7:7:7:8] sts.
    With RS facing, slip centre 27 sts onto a holder (for neckband), rejoin yarn and patt to end.
    Complete to match first side, reversing shapings.*

I;ve done the first part - shape the front neck. Now I’m starting the part that starts “shape the shoulder” but the numbers don’t add up.

I’m using the “large” numbers so I ended up with 100 sts after the front neck shaping

  • Keeping patt correct, dec 1 st at neck edge of next 1 [1: 3: 3: 5] rows, ending with RS facing for next row. 86 [90: 95: 100: 106] sts*

But when I start the next part, i’m supposed to cast off 6 sts, then 7 sts at the beginning of 11 alternate rows. That’s 48 sts.

At the same time, I’m decreasing 1 sts at neck edge for 3 rows, then on the following 6 alt rows, then on the 4th row. That’s 7 stitches total at the neck edge.

48+7=55 stitches out my my beginning 100. So I have 45 stitches left on my needle - but it says to cast off the remaining 7 stitches. I have 45 stitches remaining!

Please help!!

Welcome to KH!
Lots of bind offs and decreases going on but the numbers do add up.
Bind off 6sts at the beginning of the next row (-6)
Bind off 7sts at the the beginning of the following 11 alternate rows (-7x11= -77)
At the neck edge, dec 1 stitch on the next 3 rows (-1x3= -3)
then 1 stitch on the following 6 alt rows (-1x6= -6)
the 1 stitch on the foll 4th row (-1)

So that’s a decrease of 83sts at the shoulders and 10sts at the neck leaving you with 7sts.

It sounds like I’ve read the pattern wrong then. When it said Bind off seven on 11 alternate rows, I thought I was doing 11 rows, and only 6 of those (the alternate rows) had bind offs. So I’m supposed to be doing 22 rows, 11 of which have bind offs?

So how many total rows would I be doing?

Yes, that’s it exactly.
If you call the next row, row 1 then for the shoulder you’ll bind off 6sts at the beg of row 1, then 7sts at the beg of rows 3,5,7,9,11,13,15,17,19,21 and 23.
For the neck dec 1 stitch on rows 1,2 and 3 then rows 5,7,9,11,13 and 15, and finally on row 19.

I would have thought it would decrease at the same rate as the back, in this case. But then I’d have twice as many rows as the back….?

Here’s the back shaping. It does it every row instead of every other.

Shape shoulders
Keeping patt correct, cast off 5 [6: 6: 6: 7] sts at beg of next 6 [18: 12: 2: 14] rows, then 6 [-: 7: 7: 8] sts at beg of foll 12 [-: 6: 16: 4] rows. 99 [101: 109: 109: 119] sts.

Won’t it lie strange once it’s put together?

This is the pattern, btw,

Yes, but for the initial decreases the back is casting off on each side. Because you’re casting off you have to do that at the beginning of a row. If you consider only one side, you’re casting off 6sts at the beginning of a row then 7 at the beginning of the following 8 rows. The pattern then continues with 3 more decreases of 7 sts on a side to shape the shoulders. That’s a dec of 6sts and then 11 decreases of 7sts on each side. It looks like it matches up at the shoulders. The neck I would expect to be worked differently.

Ok, I think I follow you. I’ll trust it and give it a shot. Thanks so much for sticking with me on this, I greatly appreciate it!!

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Enjoy finishing. It’s a delicate and lovely sweater.