Shaping shoulders

[Mommy22alyns]

I've finished the straight part of the back of Sylvia's sweater and the shaping instructions read as such:

BO 6 st at bg of row (1 st. on right needle), knit next 20 sts, place center 31 sts on holder for neck, join new yarn, and work to end.

Work to end this means just a straight knit (I'm working in stockinette and this is the RS right now) and no BO at the end of this row? The next part says:

At beg. of next row, BO 6 sts - 21 sts each side.

So I'm binding off 6 sts on the left side looking at it from the back, right? And this should leave 21 sts on each side. So far, so good.

BO 8 sts at each arm edge 2 times, and at the same time, BO 5 sts at each neck edge once.

Uh oh.

Okay, first of all, can I bind off when I'm coming back purl-wise? I tried but wasn't successful. I had to go straight to the end, then turn it and bind off - is that okay? Will both sides be even? And then when I come to the last row, when there are only 13 stitches left, can they all be bound off together? Or what?

This is my first shaping experiment.

I have to take my daughter to gymnastics right now, but when I get back I'll check in and try to take some pics of my debacle to help everyone!

[Ingrid]

You can't bind off at the end of a row, so you have to do it at the beginning for the armhole and neck shaping. It won't be uneven, even though they're done on different rows. It's got to be that way, and all sweaters are.

So after you bind off the first 6 on each side, you have 21 left?

Now you'll have to bind off 8 at the beginning of the next row and 5 at the beginning of the neck edge on the other side.

Turn you work and bind off 8 at the beginning of the next row and 5 at the beginning of the neck edge on the other side again.

You'll now have 8 on each side, which you bind off.

You will have bound off 8 + 8 + 5, which will use up all 21 stitches on each side.

[Mommy22alyns]

That's perfect! I knitted it sitting right in front of your reply and I got it!! Thank you so much!

[Ingrid]