Armholes uneven?

[wilddog]

I am knitting a tank top on circular needles, but I am working on the flat not in the round (ie, back and front are 2 separate pieces).

I am ready to shape the armholes for the back and the instructions say:
(RS) BO 6 sts at beg of next 2 rows, 2sts at beg of next 4 rows, then dec1 st each side EOR 6 times

If I BO 6 at beg of next 2 rows, my second armhole will begin on row 2. Won't that make the armholes look uneven from one side to the other? I really want this to come out nice.

If someone can explain this to me I would appreciate it.

Thanks.

Linda

[Jan in CA]

That's often the way they do decreases. I doubt it makes much difference really. Is there a border you do separately on the armholes? If so that will probably cover any little difference.

What is the name of the pattern? Do you have a link so we can see it?

[wilddog]

Thanks Jan,

Ahh, yes, I believe there is a border. I only found that today in the corrections on the website. It wasn't in the original pattern, but looks like a small border in the picture.

Here is the link:
http://www.vermontfiberdesigns.com/p.../women/157.php

I did get ahold of a friend since I posted who explained it as, if you have 5 sts to the inch, you are only off 1/5 inch. She also said blocking can make the armholes look even.

I would have thought it would be BO 6 at beginning and end of row then do the dec in the same fashion. Why wouldn't this work? This just sounds neater to me.

Linda

[suzeeq]

It doesn't matter, one row is about 1/6 or 1/7 of an inch and when you're done, that's not noticeable - all patterns do it this way. The armholes will probably have the same number of rows to them, because the first one bound off will also be bound off first at the shoulders.

You can't BO at the end of a row unless it's the very last row; the yarn would be at the edge, with the bound off stitches between it and the rest of the stitches you need to keep working on. Decs can be done at the beg and end of the rows, but not a BO.

[GrumpyGramma]

Binding off at the end of a row leaves your yarn at the end of the bound off stitches. I guess if it's really, really important to you, you could bind off at each end, cut the yarn, and rejoin at the last stitch before the bind off. It sounds too complicated to me. I seriously doubt that the difference is going to be noticeable. Your friend is correct in pointing out the small difference in measurement, but if you check your row gauge I think you'll find you get more rows to the inch than stitches so it's even smaller.

That's a cute pattern.

[wilddog]

Thanks everyone.

Yes, I meant 5 rows to the inch, not sts and yes probably more like 6 or 7.

Thanks for the explanation of the BO at end of row. That makes sense. I'm coming back from a 2 year hiatus and decided to finish some old projects so I've forgotten a few things. This is my second top. Don't remember how I did the first one, but it was too big when I was done. :(

Linda

[suzeeq]

To get something to fit right, you need to know your gauge and the finished measurement you need. It could be you knit the wrong size, a mistake many people make, thinking they're larger than they are, or you didn't have the right number of stitches per inch.

A pattern will give its gauge over 4" because that's more accurate, and it's a good idea to do a sample, using about 6-10 more stitches to see how your tension compares. If you're not using a pattern, or are using a different yarn or needle size, then you still need to do a sample to see what your gauge is and how many stitches will get you the finished measurement. You can rip out that old top if you still have it and reuse the yarn, but measure it first, both overall and the stitches per inch to see where you might have gone wrong in it.