V-Neck Vest - Front Side

knitting-newbie · 09-10-2010, 12:45 AM

I need help finishing a V-neck vest. I'm confused with the front side and need help understanding what to do. The instructions say "work as for Back, shaping armholes as before. At same time, when piece measures 14" from beg, mark center st & on next RS row, place center st onto safety pin, join a new ball & work to end".
The V-Neck Shaping: Work to last 3 sts, k2 tog, k1 for right shoulder; for left shoulder, k1, sl1p, k1, psso, work to end of row. Rep Dec Row every other row 0 times more then every 15 times. Continue in pat to same length as Back to shoulders. At each shoulder edge, BO 8 sts once 8 sts twice.

The summary for Back side, after ribbing: Work Body pattern to 13" from beg, ending with WS row.
Armhole Shaping: Bind off 11 sts at beg of next 2 rows. Dec 1 st each armhole edge every other row 10 times. Continue in pat to 23" from beg, ending with WS row. Place markers on either side of center 35 sts.

I had no problem with these instructions, but I'm confused in working the Front side while incorporating the V-Neck & Armhole Shaping.

Can someone please help me? Once I get the V-Neck started with the Armhole, I think I should be okay. It's the starting part I'm confused with, especially with the RS & WS rows.

hyperactive · 09-10-2010, 09:19 AM

just briefly here:

When you look at the finished front or the sketch thereof: the arm holes start somewhere lower than the V-cut but their shaping is not entirely done before the V-neck starts. That is normal. Therefore one shaping goes on while the other starts. They happen in different places so just think about what you want to achieve and it will make sense.

Now you work row 1 of the V-neck: it is a right side row. So when you hold up your work your see the outside of the vest.
find your middle stitch. Put it onto a saftey pin and leave it there. It will be used for a ribbingband in the neckline or something later on.

Now you work that row to the end.

Once you work back (doing with the armhole what ever it wants you to at that point) you work no further than to that safety pin ever again. the stitches for the left side (seen from right side) get worked until the shoulder is done. THEN you get back to the other side and work those stitches. you finish your shoulders seperately from here.

Follow the instructions for the shaping as they go.

what you want to end up with is the following:

right side lies on a holder or spare needle for now (mostly you will take the stitches off your working needle. I sometimes just leave them there, though).

the left side you work back and forth. on the outside (the left side of the left side) you work your shaping for the armhole just as you did on the back of the piece. You can lay things ontop of eachother to check if you go correctly.

on the right side of that left side you work the V-neck (that is the middle of the vest). That means you decrease bit by bit to make the side smaller and smaller. Essentially you end up with as many shoulder stitches as you had on the back. (just on the back you worked to the neckline and probably bound off a bunch of stitches in the middle.)

Once you finished that one side, do the same thing with the stitches on the right side.
you join your yarn in the middle (next to the stitch on safteypin) and work a row on the wrong side first.
On that right side work your armhole decreases and the neck line as your pattern says.

I hope I could help.

MerigoldinWA · 09-10-2010, 06:14 PM

I looked at this last night but didn't comment because it seems to me that the pattern as the OP gave it is not quite right. I suspect that you didn't quote it 100% correctly. That left me in confusion a bit. But I think what it is saying, in brief is to shape both sides of the vee neck at once. But it will work just as well the way hyperactive states, one side at a time. But I think the way it is written they do both at once, but with separate balls of yarn.

Quote:

The V-Neck Shaping: Work to last 3 sts, k2 tog, k1 for right shoulder; for left shoulder, k1, sl1p, k1, psso, work to end of row.

It gives something for right shoulder and left right next to each other. The "work to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1" is for the right shoulder, but they mean the neck shaping on that shoulder side. And the "k1, sl1p, k1, psso" is the neck dec on the left side of the safety pin. But you lost me on the, "Rep Dec Row every other row 0 times more then every 15 times. " Something is not right here.

But what hyperactive said is right, you keep shaping the underarms the same way you did the back, and add in this vee neck shaping 1 inch beyond where you began the underarms on the front, so that you are doing the 2 things at the same time.

knitting-newbie · 09-11-2010, 01:59 AM

Thank you very much for the instructions! I think I understand it now. I'm gonna go try it now!

knitting-newbie · 09-11-2010, 02:03 AM

Thanks for the insight. I got the pattern from a 2002 Better Homes & Gardens "Knit It" issue. I hope the pattern wasn't misprinted. I did double-check the instructions & confirmed them. I'm not good with knitting as I am with crochet, so I hesitated proceeding without assistance. I can't fix my knitting errors! Thanks again!

hyperactive · 09-11-2010, 10:30 PM

Hi!
fixing knitting errors is not so hard.

Try with a "helper" of the easy kind: do you know about life lines? Check it out, there are lots of topics here dealing with that. You basically take a thin thread and run it through the stitches along the needle. Just let it hang where it is.

When you are unhappy with something that happens later on and you decide to unravel, then just pull out the needle and rip it up. The unraveling will stop at the life line and you can take all your stitches back onto the needle.

Typically life lines are used in lace knitting because that is way more hard to unravel than stochinette stitch for example.

But in a insecurity in the pattern or proceding like this one: just pull one in and leave it there until you are happy.

knitting-newbie · 09-12-2010, 02:08 AM

Wow! Thanks for the tip about "life lines". I never heard of it before. I'll have to try that out and do some practicing. I've managed to get the V-neck going now, so I really appreciate all your help. Sometimes, I just can't understand something unless someone breaks it down for me. Then, I have that "Duh!" moment!

hyperactive · 09-12-2010, 09:27 AM

don't worry. We all have that now and then.
The more you learn, the less these things surprise you.
But even if: Just ask!