I Keep Screwing Up This EASY pattern

Racerkatie · 07-23-2007, 11:09 PM

I decided to try the silk scarf in the recent Interweave Knits. I couldn't easily find the seaweed silk used in the pattern so I'm using just silk. The pattern is easy ... just four rows, repeated, of course, Essentially, you knit 2 and do a yarn over. 43 stiches, so an uneven number. On one knit row you knit four and then start the k2 Tog and yo (repeating across the row until only 3 st left), then purl a row, and then on the next knit row you knit three and then do the k2 TOG and yo across. Clearly, I know the pattern well enough to conceptually understand the repeat and type out its basics here. I've learned how to tell where I've k2 TOG and tried to make sure I do the YO immediately after k2 Tog so I can't forget the YO. I'll knit along just fine for a couple of inches, counting my 3 knit stitches on the beginning of the row, ending up with 4 left over. Then the opposite. And yet, I am amazed that I seem to end up a stitch short every so often. Anybody got an idea or tip for keeping better track without counting stitches every row? What am I doing wrong?

suzeeq · 07-24-2007, 04:35 AM

It happens. I'm knitting a slightly more complicated pattern than that, though not really intricate, and if I don't pay attention, I can mess it up. Don't beat yourself up over it, if you catch it in the next row or two, it's better than going for several inches without spotting it. It's good that you can tell if you're off, so you're learning to read your knitting.

Krystal · 07-24-2007, 04:46 AM

You can try using stitch markers after ever certain number of stitches.

Like if you have to cast on 50, you could place a marker for every 10 stitches. Then you know how many are in between, and you have to stop a second to pass the marker over, so you can quickly check the last couple stitches and make sure they are correct.

suzeeq · 07-24-2007, 05:28 AM

That could work... until the stitch marker is between a k2tog....

Maggie · 07-24-2007, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by Racerkatie

I decided to try the silk scarf in the recent Interweave Knits. I couldn't easily find the seaweed silk used in the pattern so I'm using just silk. The pattern is easy ... just four rows, repeated, of course, Essentially, you knit 2 and do a yarn over. 43 stiches, so an uneven number. On one knit row you knit four and then start the k2 Tog and yo (repeating across the row until only 3 st left), then purl a row, and then on the next knit row you knit three and then do the k2 TOG and yo across. Clearly, I know the pattern well enough to conceptually understand the repeat and type out its basics here. I've learned how to tell where I've k2 TOG and tried to make sure I do the YO immediately after k2 Tog so I can't forget the YO. I'll knit along just fine for a couple of inches, counting my 3 knit stitches on the beginning of the row, ending up with 4 left over. Then the opposite. And yet, I am amazed that I seem to end up a stitch short every so often. Anybody got an idea or tip for keeping better track without counting stitches every row? What am I doing wrong?

I always write the rows down and then check them off each repeat. Maybe some knitters don't have to do this, but here I am having been knitting for years and it still works for me. Right now I'm knitting a pattern on the back of a cardigan I'm knitting with a 12 row repeat. So I have...

Row 1
Row 2
Row 3 and so on and then each time I complete a row I tick it off.

Don't know if that helps or not.

Maggie

Chrissie · 07-24-2007, 12:59 PM

I ended up a stitch short a time or two when I forgot to do the y/o after the last k2tog before knitting the last three or four stitches. I must have figured it all out in my head, though, because I haven't had a problem for the last three feet or so of scarf that I have knitted.

AnnaT · 07-24-2007, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by Maggie

I always write the rows down and then check them off each repeat. Maybe some knitters don't have to do this, but here I am having been knitting for years and it still works for me. Right now I'm knitting a pattern on the back of a cardigan I'm knitting with a 12 row repeat. So I have...

Row 1
Row 2
Row 3 and so on and then each time I complete a row I tick it off.

Don't know if that helps or not.

Maggie

I have to do this, too. I keep a piece of paper in front of me with the stitch pattern and cover it with another piece of paper, moving it down as I go, so the row I am working on is showing. I also will print it in as big a font as I can so that it's still all on one row.

My husband learned early on to not bump the paper and make me lose my place!

The cat still doesn't care.

bip · 07-24-2007, 05:25 PM

Welcome to the Equal Parts Knitting and Frogging Club, so many of us joining this week

Sharly · 07-24-2007, 08:51 PM

AnnaT - I do essentially the same thing, but use a sticky note - with 9 cats in the house, I have to practice defensive knitting!!

Of course, I have still found ways to lose my place within the row!

bip · 07-24-2007, 10:06 PM

Oh and to keep track of rows I use a row counter around my neck and keep it set to the row I'm on. I don't have the patience to pick up a pen/pencil, and it is easier to re-do if I have to frog a few rows...uh, WHEN I have to frog a few rows. This is different than how I use it when I am actually using it to COUNT rows. In that case I would finish a row, click to 1, finish another, click to two. When I am keeping my place in a pattern, I set it to 1 and do row 1, then advance it and when I get to the end of the pattern, I set it back to 1.