Help with instructions please

[JanW01]

Hi

I am a very new knitter and have just started my first sweater Crofter DK Cardigan 9191. The instructions read:

Work 25 rows dec 1 st at each end of next and foll 4th row.

Am I decreasing on the first of those 25 rows?

Thanks for any help

[salmonmac]

Knit 25 rows and then decrease 1st at each end of the next (26th) row.

[suzeeq]

Dec on the next row, 26, and on row 30.

[JanW01]

Thank you

[JanW01]

Well I got almost the whole back done and it just wasn't looking right so I took it to the shop where I bought the pattern and yarn. She read the pattern and said that I should have dec on row 1 and that I would need to rip out and start again. I really didn't want to do that right away so I emailed the company and sure enough the dec should have started on row 1. :( Oh well, practice makes perfect right?

[salmonmac]

Hi Jan, Of course, your LYS is right there and can see the whole pattern and the finished back of your sweater but I've read the directions you quote and I can't see any other way to interpret them other than the above posts. I've tried reading forwards, backwards, up, and down and it still comes out the same.
I'm guessing that this is at the beginning of the back (the lower edge). If so, even the pictures on Ravelry seem to show a decrease quite a few inches up the side for the waist shaping.
Before you rip it all out, what was it that didn't look right about the back to you?

[JanW01]

I haven't ripped it out yet. I agree with the way you were reading it but the reason I was starting to question it was because the back was getting too long. Let me copy and post the email I sent to the company and their reply.

Her answer has also confused me. Shouldn't I be decreasing rows 1, 4, 8, etc???

I am having some trouble with pattern 9191. Hope you can help me. For the back it says: My questions are in red.

Work 25 [25:29:29:29:29] rows dec 1 st at each end of next and every foll 4th row. 81 [93:103:115:125:137] sts.
Do I start the dec on row 1 or row 26?
Work 7 [7:7:9:11:11] rows without shaping
Work 31 [31:19:13:7:7] rows inc 1 st at each end of next and every foll 6th row. 93 [105:111:121:129:141] sts.
Same question as above. Inc row 1 or 32?
Work 16 [16:32:40:48:48] rows inc 1 st at each end of every foll 8th row. 97 [109:119:131:141:153] sts.
Same question again. The set of instructions does not use the word "next".
Work 17 [17:17:19:23:23] rows without shaping.

Hi Jan
You dec on the 1st row of the 25 rows as the instructions state ( so you dec on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th, 21st and 25th rows).
work 16 rows (you dec on the 8th and the 16th row)
I do hope this helps
Kind regards
Dianne

[MerigoldinWA]

Very poorly written instructions.

Dianne said,

You dec on the 1st row of the 25 rows as the instructions state ( so you dec on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 9th, 13th, 17th, 21st and 25th rows).

Well, my response is that the instructions didn't state that, but okay, that is what you meant to say.

The pattern said,

Work 25 [25:29:29:29:29] rows dec 1 st at each end of next and every foll 4th row. 81 [93:103:115:125:137] sts.

I'd interpret that the way salmonmac and Suzeeq did. I guess what they mean is that this section of work involves the next 25 rows and you are to begin right now to dec 1 st at the end of the next and every foll 4th row. But the way the pattern gives it is not the way this would normally be written. Better would have been:

Dec 1 st at the beg and end of the next and every foll 4th row X number of times, 81 (93:103, etc) sts remain.

[salmonmac]

Well gosh, this certainly shakes my faith in Sirdar. I always think of their patterns as so explicit. It is an unconventional pattern direction but I am sorry for contributing to the confusion.
All the best with the rest of it. It's really a lovely pattern.