BO at sweater neck - Help!

[techie_stef]

hullo, first time poster. :D

I'm currently working my first sweater and I've almost finished up the back portion, except for one small problem. The pattern is for the textured coat on page 44 from the magazine knitscene (www.knitscene.com), fall/winter 2005.

Here's the bit of pattern I'm working on. This is the back part, worked from bottom up. I've put in bold the part of the pattern I'm having trouble with.

shape neck and shoulders: With removable markers, mark center 12 sts for back neck. Next row: (RS) BO 6 sts, work to marked center sts, BO center 12 sts, work to end. On the next WS row, BO 6 sts at beg of first group of sts, work even across second group of sts. 6 sts rem on each side. On the next RS row, BO first group of 6 sts, work even across second group of sts. BO rem 5 sts on foll WS row.

If anyone could explain in clear language how I'm supposed to bind off these two sections so that they're not connected by a strand of yarn in the middle, I'd really appreciate it. :thinking: Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Ingrid]

Welcome! They could have been clearer in that you'll have to attach another strand of yarn to bind off the two shoulder separately.