Reverse shapings

How-to Questions
1

HELP! I used to know this until MS wiped out my memory…I’m attempting to knit a poncho…

Right Back: With smaller needles, cast on 44 sts and work in rev stock st, decreasing 1 st at inner edge every 4th row 18 times. At 16" from beginning, decrease also at outer edge: 1 st every other row 4 times, then 1 st every row 4 times.: 18 sts left.
Work even until total length is 22", ending with a WS row.

Now here’s my problem. Left Back

Work to match right back reversing shapings.[i]

I have to do the same thing when I do the right and left front panels. And please give it to me stitch by stitch or I won’t be able to understand… Thanks in advance for any help you can give me…

Can anyone explain this to my muddled brain?

:wall: :shrug: :heart: [/i]

2

Maggie, I’m sorry that you’ve had health struggles :heart: . Hopefully we can help you out.

Because you’re working in reverse st st, the purl rows will be your right side rows. So if you start off with the first set of instructions, you have:
Row 1 (RS): Purl
Row 2 (WS): Knit
Row 3: Purl
Row 4: Knit, decreasing one stitch at beginning (inner edge) of this row

You’re doing this decrease row every 4th row, 18 times total, so it will also be at the beginnings of rows 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 68, 72.

At the same time, when the piece measures 16" you are going to decrease also at outer edge, 1 st every other row 4 times, then 1 st every row 4 times: 18 sts left.

You can keep these decreases also on the WS rows like the others but since they’re going to be at the outer edge, these decreases will be at the ends of WS rows. 1 stitch every other row 4 times, then 1 stitch every row 4 times.

Sorry if you had that all figured out already for the right back panel. I kind of needed to visualize it myself, too. Now for the left back, and reversing shaping.

Starting off in reverse st st with the purl rows as your RS rows, you will begin as follows:
Row 1 (RS): Purl
Row 2 (WS): Knit
Row 3: Purl
Row 4: Knit, decreasing one stitch at end (inner edge) of this row

Again, you’re doing this decrease row every 4th row, 18 times total, so it will also be at the ends of rows 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 68, 72.

Then, like the right back, once you reach the 16" mark you’re going to do the next set of decreases, but this time at the outer edge. If you keep these decreases on the WS rows as before, this set of decreases will fall at the beginnings of the rows, every other row 4 times, then every row 4 times.

Hope this helps.

3

Can I just use this opportunity to say that I HATE it when pattern say “reverse shaping?” :wall: What’s so wrong with writing out the instructions? It’s not like the pattern writer didn’t have to think about it to do it, anyway.

4

Yes, Cate, you can…I hate it too when it says reverse shaping and I can never get it right…A very nice lady in England explained it to me once and I had it written down, but on my desk, anything that’s not nailed down, gets lost. And I thank the lady who tried to help me, but I’m afraid I still don’t understand…

Can anyone else help me???

:wall: :heart:

5

Maggie, can you explain which part does not make sense??

Have you been able to complete the right back piece but are now unsure how to proceed with the left back?

If you have completed the right back piece, it should help you to visualize what the left back should look like. The only difference is that the inner edge and outer edge are reversed.

6

I haven’t finished either piece as yet as I broke my shoulder…if it’s not one thing, it’s another…A lovely lady in England explained it to me in such a way that I understood it…but I can’t find her email (no wonder on my desk<g>. :wall:

Maybe if you went slower…I know to do all the rows the same way for the left back, but I don’t know which way to do them. If you could explain it in simpler terms (I know what a pain I’m being and I’m sorry, it’s just that when you’ve already learned all this stuff and your memory is gone, it’s frustrating to say the least…

Thanks for all your help…

:heart:

7

Okay, I’m happy to help. Please first let me know if you understand the instructions given for the right back piece and it’s just a matter of doing it, or are you confused about that and the reverse shaping??

We’ll do our best!!! We want to help you figure this out.

8

Yes, I understand the instructions for the right back…it’s just the reverse shaping that has me nuts…

Thanks again for all your wonderful help!

:muah: :heart: xxx

9

Right Back: With smaller needles, cast on 44 sts and work in rev stock st, decreasing 1 st at inner edge every 4th row 18 times. At 16" from beginning, decrease also at outer edge: 1 st every other row 4 times, then 1 st every row 4 times.: 18 sts left.
Work even until total length is 22", ending with a WS row.

Now, for the left back piece…

You are going to decrease 1 stitch at the inner edge every 4th row, 18 times. So that means you are going to decrease on rows…
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
36
40
44
48
52
56
60
64
68
72
If you start working in reverse stockinette stitch with a purl row as your right side row, then row 4 will be a wrong side row (in reverse stockinette, this will be a knit row) so all of your 18 decrease rows will be on wrong side rows.

The inner edge of the left back is at the beginning of right side rows (purl rows), and if you are going to be working these 18 decrease rows on wrong side rows (knit rows) as we decided in the previous paragraph, they will happen at the end of your wrong side rows.

So each of those 18 decrease rows will look like this:
knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1 (I always place decreases one stitch in from the edge, it makes seaming easier if the decrease isn’t immediately on the edge)

Now, at the same time when your piece measure 16" you will start also decreasing at the outer edge. It is likely that these decreases will start before you are finished the inner edge decreases so you will be working them at the same time. Because these start at a certain length (16" from beginning), I can’t say exactly which row they will start on. But because you are doing this set of decreases on the outer edge of the piece, they will happen at the beginning of wrong side rows, and at the end of right side rows. There will be some of each, in this case, because the last set of decreases happen on every row rather than every other row.

Please let me know if this is helpful in getting you started, otherwise give a shout back again if things are still not clear.