thumb gusset ? fetching from knitty

[boyforpele13]

hey there,

working on fetching from knitty and a little confused about this spot:

Using waste yarn, k7; slip these sts back to left needle and then K them again using working yarn; work in 4x1 rib as set

that part I get but here:

carefully remove waste yarn and place resulting live sts on 2 DPs; there will be 7 sts below the opening and 6 sts above

how can it be 6 when you k7? i know this pattern has been worked a zillion times so it's something I'm missing and not a problem with the pattern, but never done a thumb before. Could someone explain?

Thanks a bunch!!!!

[isabeau]

I think it's because half of the stitches are effectively upside-down... you knit seven, and then seven on top, but when you remove the waste yarn you're taking from the top of one set of stitches and from the bottom of the other, thus:

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ (seven stitches)

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ (six stitches)

...the two half-stitches on either side of the six don't really affect the count, because they aren't full stitches and they're still attached on the other sides.

That's at least the way i'm interpreting it; I haven't tried knitting it out to see.

[zkimom]

I can't tell you why it works but yes, you do get 6 stitches above and 7 below.

And Isabeau's explanation sounds pretty good to me

[rosefields]

OMG
I am working on the Fetching now (as we speak) and I had the same question in my head...Thanks for answering it!

Another reason I love frequenting this site...psychic knitters

[boyforpele13]

thanks everyone! isabeau, you were exactly right, as the others mentioned, and perfect explanation, thank you!!!! i have to say i removed the waste yarn at the rate of 1 stitch every 4 minutes, i was terrified, but it worked out beautifully!

any trick to lessen the holiness of that while we're at it? I just did some creative weaving on the first one, finishing the second one now, but i am seeing more of these in my future, so just curious.

thanks again!

[stagebear]

i did pretty well on my first one, but adding on to the questions , does anyone have a pic of which stitches to pick up? i just did what i though looked best, but i think one of them was wrong.