I'm not a fabulously experienced knitter, I can knit, have knit.. just use a lot of reference materials to get going in the right direction. I've been working on this project for my niece for a while now.

http://www.sirdar.co.uk/designs/babiesDesigns/cardigansjacketsBabies/1721

For the most part it's been going well. I'm now working on the border portion and am about to rip it out for the 3rd time because I don't think it's working. It doesn't look like the picture.

Here's the directions:
With rs facing, using 3 1/4mm needles pick up and knit 66 sts from 70 cast on sts of back. I actually figured out this part and it's not the problem.
**1st Row. *K1, yfwd, k2tog, rep from * to end.
1st row sets patt.
Work 3 more rows more in patt. Figured this part out too. I just can't stop mid-row or get distracted because I'll lose where I am in the repeat very easily.
Change to 4mm needles and work 4 rows in patt.** I just did the next row onto the larger size.. not sure if it's the right way to change needle size or not.
Change to 4 1/2mm needles and proceed as follows:-
Next Row. *K1, knit into front and back of next st, k1, pick up loop between last and next st and work into the back of this loop (this will now be referred to as m1), rep from * to last 3 sts, k1, (knit into front and back of next st) 0 times, k2.
108 sts. This is the part that confuses me because I ended up with 128 stitches!!!

To make matters worse.. I'm doing it in black.

So if I break down that last part.. this is what I get.

*K1 - self explanatory
knit into front and back of next st - also self explanatory, just like increasing.. right?
k1 - self explanatory
pick up loop between last and next st and work into the back of this loop (this will now be referred to as m1) - Um.. what? Pick up loop.. like what I did to start the border? Insert needle between stitches, wrap yarn, pull thru? What do they mean by work into the back of this loop?
rep from * to last 3 sts - got this
k1 - self explanatory
(knit into front and back of next st) 0 times - don't do this one
k2 - self explanatory

Help???!?!?!?!?!!!??

Hi!
you mostly have it figured out.
All your ideas I can confirm.
The part you don't know about goes like this:

pick up loop between last and next st and work into the back of this loop (this will now be referred to as m1)

When you have some stitches on the left and some on the right needle (anywhere in your knitting, just not at the beginning or end of a row with just 2 needle in the row): pull your needles appart a bit (without the stitches slipping off, of course).... you see the yarn "loop" that is between the stitches of the LAST row. (connecting the stitch you worked last and the stitch you would work next.

That loop you dive into with your needle.

now if you would just knit that off, then you would pretty much have the same as knitting off a yarn over / yarnforward, just with a little less slack. That would create a little hole (smaller than if you had made a yo in the row before).
So they make you knit it through the back leg of that yarn-piece. This can be strange when you are a tight knitter or have a lot of these to do (pulling all slack out of the last row).
But it works well if you just poke the tip of your needle into the rear leg of that stitch to work it.

For a video: look into the free videos section under increases (because that is what that is: an increase). The video you want is "M1L" (make one left).

you want to increase a LOT in these spots so you make the frills happen. You will only be able to see the real effect after the stuff is off your needles because the needles keep stuff controlled.

The amount of stitches you are supposed to get (108/128) I did not think through, sorry. My brain is in Sunday night shut down mode.

Hi!
you mostly have it figured out.
All your ideas I can confirm.
The part you don't know about goes like this:



When you have some stitches on the left and some on the right needle (anywhere in your knitting, just not at the beginning or end of a row with just 2 needle in the row): pull your needles appart a bit (without the stitches slipping off, of course).... you see the yarn "loop" that is between the stitches of the LAST row. (connecting the stitch you worked last and the stitch you would work next.

That loop you dive into with your needle.

now if you would just knit that off, then you would pretty much have the same as knitting off a yarn over / yarnforward, just with a little less slack. That would create a little hole (smaller than if you had made a yo in the row before).
So they make you knit it through the back leg of that yarn-piece. This can be strange when you are a tight knitter or have a lot of these to do (pulling all slack out of the last row).
But it works well if you just poke the tip of your needle into the rear leg of that stitch to work it.

For a video: look into the free videos section under increases (because that is what that is: an increase). The video you want is "M1L" (make one left).

you want to increase a LOT in these spots so you make the frills happen. You will only be able to see the real effect after the stuff is off your needles because the needles keep stuff controlled.

The amount of stitches you are supposed to get (108/128) I did not think through, sorry. My brain is in Sunday night shut down mode.

I think I'm right there with you.

I watched the video.. that was helpful, thank you. It's what I was doing, which is why I don't understand how I ended up with 20 more stitches then called for.

I think I'll take it along with me tomorrow and see if the knitting instructor at the store can help me sort it out. I know once I get it figured out it will be so simple. I've just never done a project like this where the border was done after the main piece and not at the same time.

When I chart it I come up with 88-98 stitches... so I know I'm not getting it in the right places. The previous rows are a lacy pattern so there are giant spaces between some of the stitches (from the yfwd) and are harder to pick up the stitch for the m1. Bah.. I give up for the night I think. I've lost my light and motivation for the night.

Monday morning get's my math skills running again:

Let me try to map it out for you:


you have 66 stitches before that row, right

now your pattern does the following:

stitch 1 on your left needle: K 1 = 1 stitch on the right needle

stitch 2 on your left needle: kfb = makes 1 into 2 stitches, total: 3 stitches on your right needle

stitch 3 on your left needle: k1 and after that m1 = makes 2 stitches where there was one. Total: 5 stitches on your right needle.

you have used 3 existing stitches and now you have 5 on your right needle. This section you repeat.

so what you do is k1 kfb k1 m1 k1 kfb k1 m1 (a kfb and a m1 alternating after the k1, really, but the kfb uses up a stitch, the m1 does not) and so on and on and on

That you do until you get to the last 3.

So for 63 stitches you turn groups of 3 stitches into groups of 5 stitches.
that makes 21 repeats (63 : 3 = 21), every repeat being 5 stitches on the right needle. You come out with 105 for this repeat section (21 x 5 = 105).

Now you do k1 (nothing for the next step of kfb for this size) and k2 - so k3 total for this step.
That means you come out with 108.

I hope it helped you?

Having 20 stitches more makes me wonder where you went wrong. Maybe you did not line up end and beginning of the repeat right? 21 repeats and 20 stitches more seam like 20 gaps between repeats that may be an issue? Did you gain one extra stitch between the repeats? Between the m1 and the k1?

you will figure it out, I am sure.