Question about a pattern

#1

I began knitting an afghan from “Easy Afghans For Knitters.” I completed the border and must begin the mock cable pattern. I noticed that the 1st row calls for several psso’s. The pattern is something like: sl 1 K, psso, K2, P2. The psso’s will decrease stitches, right? I guess what confuses me is this…if I decrease stitches, wont the edges of the afghan be uneven because I’ll have (for example) 286 stitches in the last row of the border and only 236 stitches in the first row of the pattern?

#2

Can you post the rest of the row? If you don’t have any yarn overs, bar increases (written k1fb), or make one’s (or any other increases I’m forgetting about), then yes, that would be a problem.

#3

It’s possible that the gauge of the edging is different than the gauge of the pattern stitches, so they decrease.

#4

I was asked to post the rest of the row. Here are the first two rows:

P3, *sl1K, K2, psso, P2, rep from *, end last rep P3
K3, *P1, YO, P1, K2, rep from *, end last rep K3

I am very discouraged. The gauge is 24 stitches and 20 rows = 4 inches.

So, I took some left-over yarn and spent the last hour on my train ride into work attempting to practice this mock cable pattern with 24 stitches cast on. The pattern calls for 286 stitches - way too many for practice only!

The first row comes out fine. I end with psso. I have three stitches left, so I purl them.

The second row comes out wrong every time! I end with K2. I have four stitches left!

I’m afraid I wasted $66.00 on yarn for this afghan because either I’m too stupid to figure out the mock cable pattern or the pattern was written wrong.

The mock cable pattern consists of four rows and I can’t get past the 2nd row.

Can anyone help me?

#5

i was going to suggest casting on with fewer stitches, but i see you’ve already done that.

are you getting 5 repeats of the pattern in your 24 stitches?
i really don’t know what you could be doing that’s making you end 4 stitches off…

after the first row, count to make sure you have 20 stitches on your needle. if not, then you’re doing something wrong in the first row and we can concentrate on fixing that one.

if you have 20 st, do the second row and then count. you should be back up to 24 st.

your pssos are decreases, the yos are increases. there’s a yo for every psso so you’re not really making anything smaller.

#6

Sandraellen,

Thank you for responding to my pattern problem. During my lunch hour at work, I completed Row 1. I did not get 5 repeats of the pattern. I got 4 repeats. After Row 1, I had 20 stitches left on the needle.

I did Row 2 over and over again. Each time, I got 3 repeats of the pattern and ended with only 23 stitches on the needle. The only way I was able to get 24 stitches was to end with yo (instead of K3 like the pattern says).

I completed Row 3: P3 *K3, P2, rep from *, end last rep P3. I was able to end with P3 and I had 24 stitches left on the needle.

So, either Row 2 of the pattern is written incorrectly or I am doing something wrong. I don’t know what i could be doing wrong. After P2, I leave the yarn in front and knit the next stitch, so I think I am doing the yo correctly.

Any ideas at this point?

Kaallen

#7

ok wait. you say that after you purl 2, you leave the yarn in front and knit the next stitch to do the yarn over, but the yarn over is between 2 purl stitches. you need to purl one, wrap the needle up over the top and back to the front and then purl another stitch.

sorry. sudden revelation. I had needles in hand and was working through row 2 when i realized you said that.

try that. let me know how it works. i hope you’ll get it figured out.

BTW: i was wrong about you getting 5 repeats. bad math. you’ll only get 4. but you should get 4 in row 2 also. 4 in every row.

#8

SandraEllen,

Thank you so much! I will try that on the train ride home! I just learned to knit last April. I’m taking my 2nd knitting class in Feb. I hated to wait until then (I was going to bring the afghan to my teacher and beg for help!). It was so kind of you to take so much time to help me and to actually try knitting the row yourself. I really appreciate it.

Kaallen
Boston MA

#9

Kaallen,

You are very welcome! Please let me know if that works and if you have any other problems.

-SandraEllen

#10

SandraEllen,

Thank you so much for helping me last Friday with my afghan pattern. I practised wrapping the yarn up over the top and back of the needle and it worked! I had 24 stitches at the end of the row and - after completing rows 1-4 - I could see the mock cable pattern. So, now I know how to yo when purling. I felt confident enough to work on the afghan over the weekend and it is looking great. I can’t thank you enough!

Kaallen

#11

:cheering: yeah!!! I’m glad you got it!
Congrats!