Wrong side right side?

#1

I was knitting a pattern that said “Beg with a purl row, work 5 rows in stocking st.”

i misunderstood (apparently) and instead of doing P, K, P, K, P I did a Purl row and THEN 5 rows of stocking stitch. now i’m 5 or 6 rows later, realizing that my knitting is on the wrong side.

since my mistake, i’ve done the 5 rows of stocking stitch and then started decreasing my knitting by decreasing 8 each odd row and purling each even row.

i know it’s a little late to go back, and it’s for my mom (so she’ll love it anyways) but i was wondering how i could switch it to being the right side again at this point. i don’t want to add any extra rows since i realize now that i already did that at the beginning which caused my mistake. any ideas?

i thought maybe i could un-purl my last row and redo it as a knitted row… but would that help since my next two rows still need to be knitted (while decreasing) and then purled?

i feel like i’ve knitted myself into a corner! eek!

#2

You could leave the purl row on the RS as an accent row. I do that on purpose with stockinette and it doesn’t curl as much.

#3

Sorry, maybe I don’t understand or maybe I didn’t ask very clearly–

My problem now is that i’m well past the rows that made the mistake on. let me write out some of the pattern to show you what i mean:

"Beg with a purl row, work 5 rows in stocking st.

Proceed as follows:
1st row: K1. *Sl1. K1. psso. K13. Rep from * to end of row. 113 sts.

2nd and alt rows: Purl

3rd row: K1. *Sl1. K1. psso. K12. Rep from * to end of row. 105 sts.

Cont. in same manner, dec 8 sts evenly across every following alt row to 25 sts."

So that’s the relevant section of the pattern.

After I did the purl row and the 5 rows of stocking st. incorrectly I also did the first 4 rows after the stocking st. so i have 10 rows where the wrong side flipped to the right side. The next row I am supposed to deal with is a knit row where i am supposed to decrease 8. However, if possible, i’d like to find a way to have the right side on the right side again.

Let me know if that explains my problem a little more clearly. Sorry for my inability to describe it better. I’m new at this :slight_smile:

#4

I may not have explained what I meant very well either. What I’m thinking you did is purl the first row, then purl the 2nd, knit the 3rd etc? So on the knit side you have a purl row?

#5

If what you did is what Suzeeq said, (P,P,K,P,K,P, etc.), then I’d just leave it the way it is, because if you just start changing now, you’ll have an odd looking piece that is stockinette stitch(the smooth ‘v’ side) for a while, and then…is that reverse stockinette (the bumpy side) for the rest of the way, and that looks pretty odd. So, if it’s just the one first row that is off from what it should be, and the rest is right, but just on the other side, then I’d leave it.

BUT, if that was in the middle of the pattern, and you have a bunch of correctly done stockinette before starting the initial purl row you described in your post, and it’s already a significant amount of stockinette and then a significant amount of reverse stockinette…then I don’t see any way around it but to frog.

That’s assuming I’m understanding at all–which is always questionable!:slight_smile:

#6

The way I’m reading it is that you did a purl row then knit 5 more rows of stocking stitch, instead of 5 rows of stocking stitch INCLUDING that first purl row.

So instead of P,K,P,K,P (5 rows) you did P,K,P,K,P,K (6 rows) … which meant you had the wrong side facing when you started your first decrease row, and therefore for the last 4 rows you’ve been knitting (and decreasing) on the reverse stockinette side and purling on the stockinette side (which should be the right side).

So you’d now have 4 rows of reverse stockinette on the right side, above all the previously correct stockinette stitch. That really would look rather odd, as Lisa R. said.

I’d frog those 4 decreasing rows, and also the extra stockinette row you knitted… the extra one you shouldn’t have done. Once you’ve done that you should have the right side of your work facing you, and from there you can start your decreasing again.

#7

Or, you could just let that part be reverse stockinette, and call it a “design element”. :teehee:

#8

i think miss_molly summed up what happened pretty well in her response…

so if the only option then is to frog it, could i get some advice of the best way to do that?

I’m very new to anything beyond basic scarf knitting, and so when (in the past) i’ve had to undo rows of knitting, i just took it off the needle, unraveled the messed up row or rows, and then put the stitches back onto the needle. this takes AGES… and i get the feeling there is a MUCH smarter way to do it… maybe not, but if there is i would really appreciate hearing about it.

if there’s already a video on the site maybe you could just point me in the right direction?

again, thank you all so much!

#9

i went ahead and frogged 4 rows… so i did away with all of the part that looked wrong… i left the 6 rows of stocking stitch…(that are supposed to only be 5 rows).

I should have frogged 5 rows, but i didn’t think it through. If i’d frogged 5 rows, then i could have just purled the last row instead of knitting it and then continued with the pattern as written.

as it is, though, assume i have just done this:

P 1 row
K 1 row
P 1row
K 1 row
P 1 row
K 1 row
(all of this appears to be on the right side)

NOW i’m supposed to start decreasing my work… on a knit row… if i do this as written, it will do the problem over again… fliip to the wrong side, yes?

so what i think i’ll do is purl an extra row of stocking stitch… so yes, ill have an extra row on the work, but i don’t think it will make much difference. if i go from K to P to K (while decreasing) then my work will remain on the correct side. correct?

just trying to make sure i don’t have to frog again… i’m horrible at picking up the stitches on my needle.

thanks!

#10

Amy DOES have a video that shows how to insert your needle at the destination row BEFORE you start unravelling.

Go to this page: http://www.knittinghelp.com/videos/knitting-tips
Scroll down to “Fixing Mistakes”, and look for the video for “inserting a needle into destination row, before unraveling”.

Good luck!

#11

You actually did it right `work 5 rows in st st beginning with a purl row’ means:

P 1 row
K 1 row
P 1 row
K 1 row
P 1 row

See - 5 rows of stockinette; it doesn’t have to start with a knit row, that’s why the pattern said to start with a purl row. So when you finished up that last purl row, you should have done the incs on the next knit row. Looks like you need to take it out and redo it with the increases.

#12

ah that’s perfect! thank you so much!

i guess i’ll go frog again… sigh.

i’m horrible at frogging, but the stitches in this piece are so small i don’t think i trust myself with the method where you insert th eneedle first and then frog… .oh well.

#13

For just one row, I don’t remove the needle - just unknit the stitches one by one.

#14

I was just about to say the same as suzeeq. Just undo stitch by stitch. You only have one row to undo, so stitch by stitch is the simplest. If unsure how, take a look at the information on this page on “tinking” -
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/FEATwin03TT.html

This is a very useful skill to know, as there will be many times in your future knitting life where you’ll just want to get back to a point a few stitches earlier in the row. For mistakes made just a few stitches earlier, or even a row or two down, stitch by stitch is safer than pulling out the needles, frogging, then trying to reinsert the needle.

#15

thank you both very much! i will definitely be tinking this one!