Sweater Neck and Shoulder Shaping Help

How-to Questions
1

I am knitting my first sweater, and everything has been going fine until I hit the shoulder and neck shaping. I tried the best I could, but I made a big mistake, which caused a lot of confusion and frustration. I finally got my grandmother to help me rip it out so I could start the shoulder and neck shaping all over again. Hopefully, this time I can get it right! :wink:

I am really confused about the pattern instructions for the back. It goes like this:

BO 7 sts, knit until there are 9 sts on RH needle and turn, place rem. sts on a holder.
BO 3 sts, purl to end.
BO rem 6 sts.
With RS facing, rejoin yarn to sts from holder, BO center 26 sts, knit to end.
Complete to match first side, reversing shaping and working an extra row before start of shoulder shaping.

If someone could help me decipher the above, I would really appreciate it! :slight_smile:

And while I’m asking for help, I might as well as for some help with the shaping for the front neck and shoulder, which goes like this:

[I]Shape front neck[/I]
K30 and turn, place rem. sts on a holder.
BO 4 sts, purl to end: 26 sts.
Dec 1 st at neck edge on next three rows, then EOR twice, then on foll 4th row: 20 sts.
Work 3 rows, ending with WS row.

[I]Shape Shoulder[/I]
BO 7 sts at beg of row and on next RS row.
Work 1 row even.
BO rem 6 sts.
With RS facing, rejoin yarn to rem sts, BO center 12 sts, knit to end.
Complete to match first side, reversing shapings and working an extra row before start of shoulder shaping.

Thank you very much in advance for the help! I really appreciate it! :woohoo:

2

[I]BO 7 sts, knit until there are 9 sts on RH needle and turn, place rem. sts on a holder.
BO 3 sts, purl to end.
BO rem 6 sts.
With RS facing, rejoin yarn to sts from holder, BO center 26 sts, knit to end.

[/I]These instructions could have been worded more simply. . .

Bind off 7 stitches (that will leave 1 stitch on the right needle) and knit 8 more so that there is a total of 9 stitches on the right needle.

Turn your work (you’re now working on the 9 stitches) and bind off the first 3 stitches and finish the rest in purl. Then turn the work and bind off the remaining 6.

I honestly wouldn’t bother putting the other stitches on a holder–I’d leave them where they were.

Now, with the right side facing you, bind off the 26 stitches and knit the rest.

Turn and bind off 7 stitches and finish the row, then turn and bind off the rest.

That’ll at least take care of the first set of directions.

3

Okay, thank you very much! :slight_smile: