Inconspicuous way to dec. extra stitches in raglan sweater?

[megsue7]

Hello again,

I finally got going on my hardest project ever, the Julissa sweater, (thanks to suzeeq's input!). Now that I'm 8 rounds deep into the lace/cable raglan neckline/beginning chest, I realize I've somehow ended up with extra stitches here and there - 3 total.

The first is in the stockinette back of the sweater, and I'm considering just doing k2tog near one of the edges- would that work?

The other 2 extra stitches are in 2 different increase sections near the sleeves, where there's lace and cable. Yikes! Is there a way to do this without it looking too crappy? This being my first sweater, my expectations are pretty low, but I'd like it to not be an eyesore.

Thanks in advance for any clever ideas you might have!

[salmonmac]

See if you can find the source of the extra stitches. In the stockinette, you can always decrease somewhere near the edge or you can leave the extra stitch and account for it in the bind off or perhaps the center neck stitches. Do something similar for the lace and cable. See if you can see where the extra sts come from. It may be possible to correct them in the same column of sts so that you don’t throw either the lace or the cable pattern off. If they’re not too far back in the pattern, you may decide that it’s worth it to you to put in a lifeline (see video under Tips at the top of the page) and rip back to the mistake. Good luck whatever you decide to do and post a picture if you’d like when this sweater is complete.

[suzeeq]

You probably did some incs on one round where you weren't supposed to. Figure out which side of the back or sleeves that you did that, and skip an increase at the same raglan next time. That may be less conspicuous than a decrease, and being a stitch over in the plain section is okay anyway - at that gauge it's not going make a difference in size and no one's going to be counting the stitches...

[megsue7]

Thanks!

I don't think I have enough knowledge to do it that way, so I'm wondering if there's a least-visible way to decrease now and get back to where I should be.

I definitely understand your wisdom, but I don't have those skills yet.

Maybe I can ask a more advanced knitter to look at it, but in case that doesn't work, is decreasing now an option? I don't want to undo it unless making those decreases will be really messy.

[suzeeq]

I think you can leave the extra stitch on the back stockinette, it won't be noticeable. If you can put up a picture of the extra stitches in the lace/cable section, it may help.

[megsue7]

Sue, I actually hadn't seen your reply before I wrote that response - it was answering salmonmac's post.

I understand your suggestion and it sounds like it'll work, because I'm clear about which increase sections have the extra stitch.

I've knit for so many years doing really easy stuff out of fear of these kinds of problems, but what I didn't realize was that I learn so much by dealing with all the problems, that the harder projects are totally worth the frustration. Thanks to both of you for helping ease my mind!

[suzeeq]

Yep, you learn a lot by making mistakes and then how to fix them. And as I mentioned, a lot of them don't really show even if you don't fix them.

[salmonmac]

Absolutely. Mistakes are a great learning tool. Don't be afraid to tackle more difficult projects. There's something to learn from every one of them and you do keep getting better at this knitting.