Problem with knitting stitch book

I have the "Big book of knitting stitch patterns" and I was working from it tonight for the first time when I noticed all the stitch counts are wrong for all the lace patterns. This is the prob...they count sl 1, k1, psso as one stitch. But isn't is two? You need a stitch to slip and then you use another stitch to knit right? Or am I wrong? I don't see how that can be counted as 1 stitch.

Oh man...I just checked another book and they're all wrong too! So apparently I'm doing something wrong. I don't guess every book can be wrong. Help! What am I doing?

Here's the first row of the pattern I wanted to knit. It says "work with a multiple of 17 stitches" so I cast on 34 stitches.

K3, *K 2 tog, K3, yo, K1, yo, K3, sl 1, K 1, psso, K6*; rep from * to * ending the last repeat with K3

Now that's exactly what Row 1 says. That looks like 38 stitches to me. What am I doing wrong? Help!

Pamjam the frustrated

Reply to
Qintes
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It ends up as one stitch. You slip one stitch, then knit one, and pass the slipped stitch over the knitted one. THis is a decrease, where you go from two stitches to one. I assume that the asterisk is after the first k3, which means that the k3 is not included in your multiple of 17. THe *bolded* directions in your row *are* 17 stitches.

HTH

Higs, Katherine

Reply to
Katherine

K 2 tog= 1st YO=1st sl1,K1 psso =1st

You will have the same amount of stitches you start with, you are decreasing two stitches, but you are also making 2 stitches with the YOs. The total is of the pattern repeat is 17 sts. DA

Reply to
DA

Thinking too much!!!!! And it looks like 40 to me. ;) They don't seem to have included the K3 at each end of the row in the stitch count, but the stitches in between add up to 17.

Anyway.... There's the number you start with, and the number you finish with - they aren't always the same, the next row will take care of that. In the above example the multiple of 17 is the stitches you start with between the *s. And you should also finish with a multiple of 17 plus the K3 on either end of the row.

sue

Reply to
suzee

I understand this part. You have two stitches that go to one. But it starts out as two right? They said to work in multiples of 17 and I wanted to make it twice as long I cast on 34. But then I didn't have enough stitches to knit the pattern.

Take this for instance. This is a patten from Jan Eaton's "200 knitted blocks" page 32 pattern #6. My problem is with row 5...

CO 34 sts Row 1: K Row 2: K1, P to last st, K1 Rows 3 & 4: Rep rows 1 & 2 Row 5: K4, *K2 tog, yo, K1, yo, sl 1, K1, psso, K2; rep from * to the last 2 sts, K2.

Now unless I cast on only 33 stitches I can't get that to work.

It just seems like every time I encounter a lace pattern the number of CO sts doesn't jive with the pattern.

It's 17 after I've done it but to be able to do it I need more than 17 right? Do you see what has my brain in knots?

Pamjam

Reply to
Qintes

I think a little light is dawning.... is the CO row going to have more stitches than the rest of the pattern? How many stitches would you CO to work this pattern? Thanks! Pamjam

Reply to
Qintes

Hi Suzee!

LOL! :D Yes my brain is melting.

God bless you I think this was what was confusing me. I didn't know that. I though the number you cast on is the number you HAVE to maintain through the entire pattern.

I believe you may have solved my dilemma. I'm going to go try it again! Thanks St. Sue! Pamjam

Reply to
Qintes

Uhhh, don't pin sainthood on me... I've just been knitting a loooooonnnng time. Though I can still learn something new.

sue

Reply to
suzee

I think you've already figured out that you only repeat the stitches between the *s. There's a repeat of 7 stitches between the *s, plus the

4 at the beginning and the 2 at the end. So 7 x 4 repeats is 28, plus the 6 on the ends and you've got 34 stitches.

The *stitch* pattern takes 17 or a multiple of 17, but that doesn't include the stitches on each end.

sue

Reply to
suzee

Cast on a multiple of 17 plus three extra.

Higs, Katherine

Reply to
Katherine

Yes, I do. WHat is happening is that you are counting the k3 at the beginning of the row as part of your 17, and they are extra stitches.

HTH

Higs, Katherine

Reply to
Katherine

No, six extra. There's a K3 on either end.

sue

Reply to
suzee

Your pattern (7sts) repeats 4 times (28 sts) add the 4sts at the beginning and 2 sts at the end and you will have 34sts.

Correct except the instuctions that you posted are for a multiple of 7 sts.

Your pattern instructions should give you a multiple ( in this case 7) plus so many other stitches (in this case 6 ). You can knit the pattern with any number of stitches divisible by 7 ( the repeat) + the extra 6 stitches.

DA

Reply to
DA

She's talking about the first pattern. I think you snipped out that part.

sue

Reply to
suzee

It depends what you're knitting. If it's a border, with points, the stitch count varies from row to row so you get the pointed effect. If it's straight, like the body of a scarf, the stitch count needs to be consistent.

The bit from * to * has a stitch count of 17 BUT the pattern says to finish the last repeat with K3 instead of K6 (so the last repeat has 14 stitches, not 17). That will maintain the symmetry of the pattern because you have a decrease after 3 stitches at the beginning and sl 1, k1, psso 3 stitches from the end.. If you do your 34 stitches you have K3, pattern 17, pattern 14 = 34 stitches.

51 stitches would be K3, pattern 17, pattern 17, pattern 14 = 51 stitches Clear as mud?

Eimear

Reply to
ejk

Sue, if you look at the instructions in this post, the K6 after the K2 tog is not there. The 5th row of this pattern is different from the one previously posted. It ends with a K2

DA

Reply to
DA

No, only three extra. The K6 in the repeat includes the plain stitches between the lacy patterns, and the final repeat ends with K3, to match the initial K3. It's a multiple of 17 plus 3.

=Tamar

Reply to
Richard Eney

Forget that. The others are right - it's a multiple of 17 even, because the extra three at the beginning are matched by the lack of three in the final repeat.

=Tamar (who hasn't knitted lace in a while)

Reply to
Richard Eney

Because you slip the first unknit one over the knitted one you really end up with 1 stich ,,,,, but in most laces i know ,,, there is alwys a loop of some kind that will purled or knitted on in the next row to make the HOLE that is the lace ,, otherwise the k1 . pass over will turn into a decrease [like in raglan etc,,, ]] Aha i looked on your pattern there is a YO ,,,, good ,, best of luck mirjam

Reply to
Mirjam Bruck-Cohen

Let see the math

3+1+3+1+1+1+3+1+6 Now i counted 20 Brrrrrr lets redo that k3 =3 k2 tog=1 k3 =3 yo =1 k1 =1 yo =1

Ahha i see it the first 3 aren`t part of the pattern , they thus pattern has indeed 17 from * mirjam

Reply to
Mirjam Bruck-Cohen

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