Shaping neck and shoulders

How-to Questions
1

Hello knitting friends,

I’m a little stuck in my pattern. I’ve done the back side of my jumper and with the help of a friend did the shaping of shoulders and back neck, but this time I’m on my own, and I’m not sure if I’ve done it correctly.

The pattern says to “P51, turn. Cont on these sts for left side of front neck.
***Dec one st at neck edge in next 6 rows, then in every foll alt row 3 times… 42 sts.
Work 1 row.”

Now, I’ve done this, but wasn’t completely sure if the ‘every foll alt row’ meant to start decreasing in that row, or the next one. Anyway, at the end of working one row, my knitting is on one needle, not in the middle of the working of the shoulders. Is this right, or should I be in the middle of the knitting across two needles for the next section?

Next instructions are:
Cast off 10sts at beg of next row, then in every foll alt row twice.
Work 1 row.
Cast off rem 12sts***
Slip next 20 sts onto a stitch holder for neckband. With right side facing, join C2 to rem 51 sts for right side of front neck and purl to end.
rep from *** to ***, working 2 rows instead of 1 row before shaping shoulder.

I’m not using two colours, so the C2 isn’t super relevant.
I’m just not sure where I’m meant to be when I start casting off; should I work another row of the first section to end up in the middle to start the cast off, or does the casting off start at the beginning of the row I’d already been working on ie the edge of the shoulders, or nearer to the centre of the jumper? Am I making sense?

Thank you!

T

2

You’re going to work the left shoulder first and then go back and slip the center sts to a holder for the neck and finally work the right shoulder.
Every foll alt row means every other row.
When you purl 51, the left shoulder sts will be on one needle and the center and right shoulder on the other. Ignore the center and right shoulder sts for now. After working another row, the sts will all be on one needle again although you’ll be able to see a small hole where you turned.
The directions to cast off 10sts on the next and every foll alt row mean to cast off starting at the armhole edge. These are cast offs for the shoulder shaping. You want the line of shoulder decreases to match the line of decreases on the back of the sweater and you want the line of decreases to slope up from armhole to neck when you’re finished.