Question about increasing sts

How-to Questions
1

hi everyone,

i’m working on the manly sweater from debbie stoller’s stitch and bitch. i have a question about increasing sts on the sleeves…

here are the instructions:

“CO 45 (49,49,51)sts. Set up row (RS): K0 (0,0,1), *p1, k5; rep from * to last 1 (1,1,2) sts, p1 k0 (0,0,1). Work even in k5, p1 rib, inc 1 st each edge of next and every 4th row 0 (0,2,3) times; then every 6th row 15 (18,19,20) times - 77 (85,91,97) sts.”

so here is my question…i’m making the small size. so i did the set up row as p1, k5. at the end of the row, following the pattern, i had to p1, then k1, then p1 (as i had 45 sts). that’s right so far, right?

but here’s the part i’m not sure of (i think it’s a conceptual problem!). it says to increase next and every 4th row 0 times. so do i just do nothing at all? i mean, do i just starting increasing every 6th row, following the next set of instructions that does seem to apply to the size i’m making?

here’s my confusion. if i were knitting the large size, i would be knitting this row, then knitting a total of 8 more rows in order increase the two times required. but since i’m required to do 0 increases, what happens to those 8 rows (or 12, in the case of the extra large size)? do i just not knit them? or is this how my small size sleeves will be small rather than large? they’ll be 8 rows shorter?

i hope this makes sense. sorta.

2

You’re right, you would begin the increases on the 6th row, and every 6th row after that for a total of 15 times. For making a smaller size, yes, you knit fewer rows than for a larger size.

3

I am having the same issue. I am doing the size medium manly sweater and have just cast on for the sleeves and am at a loss what to do next. The medium also has this “0 times” instruction. I didn’t understand the response to your question, so I’m still not sure what to do. Could you help? Did you finish the sweater by now? It seems lots of people had trouble with the sleeves and I’d love to solve the problem before I start!

4

When a pattern says `knit/dec/inc 0’ for your size, you do nothing and go on to the next set of instructions.

5

Aha! OK, got it. I read all the other posts about sleeves being too long, etc. so am glad to skip some rows. Thank you!