More pattern corrections and tips
The road has been littered with brain teasers ever since I reached the armholes, but I'm happy to report that the upper body is finished.
Flame Stitch Cardigan #9, Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2005
There will be 6 inches of ribbing added to the bottom, plus a buttonband, collar, and sleeves. I like it.
Getting this far has been an adventure. Not only were there the obvious errors in the pattern, but there were other instructions that stopped me in my tracks and made me go, "huh?" The wording was so confusing, I didn't even know if it was an error. But of course if the average knitter can't understand it, by (my) definition, it's an error.
Pattern Correction
For example, there's the sloped bind off:
"Sl last st on the row preceding the bind-off on the bind-off row, then bind off the next st over the Sl st."
bind off the next st over the Sl st. Really? How do you do that?
I interpreted this as: "Slip the last stitch purlwise on the row before a bind-off row. Turn. Slip the first stitch purlwise, work the next st, pass the slipped stitch over (equals one bind-off)."
I think the purpose is to get a nice sloped edge to the bind-off. So I tried my version of the sloped bind-off, but abandoned it after a couple of attempts. It sure seemed fiddly. Instead, I slipped the first stitch of every row, knit the last stitch of every row, and did my regular bind off. Nice sloped edges.
Tip #1
The other thing that was a learning experience was dealing with rows where there weren't an equal number of increases and decreases. For example, before dividing for the fronts and back, there are 11 full repeats of the pattern. For every 2 increases, there are 2 decreases. But once you get into the shaping, there aren't full repeats of the stitch pattern so you may end up with more or less stitches than you should.
To take care of this, I added increases or a decreases along the edges as needed. It took some minor adjustments keep the neck edges even. Only once did I have to rip back and redo part of the right front because the neck edge had an unsightly jog.
Tip #2
Similarly, the sleeves for the medium size have an odd number of repeats to start. Starting at bottom edge of the sleeve, each right side row decreases the total stitch count by 2. From row 13 to row 24, each right side row increases the stitch count by 2.
Although the pattern said to cast on 68st for each sleeve, I cast on 70st. At the end of the first row I had 68st. From then on, I increased and decreased as necessary at the edges of the sleeves to keep the stitch count at 68.
Flame Stitch Cardigan #9, Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2005
There will be 6 inches of ribbing added to the bottom, plus a buttonband, collar, and sleeves. I like it.
Getting this far has been an adventure. Not only were there the obvious errors in the pattern, but there were other instructions that stopped me in my tracks and made me go, "huh?" The wording was so confusing, I didn't even know if it was an error. But of course if the average knitter can't understand it, by (my) definition, it's an error.
Pattern Correction
For example, there's the sloped bind off:
"Sl last st on the row preceding the bind-off on the bind-off row, then bind off the next st over the Sl st."
bind off the next st over the Sl st. Really? How do you do that?
I interpreted this as: "Slip the last stitch purlwise on the row before a bind-off row. Turn. Slip the first stitch purlwise, work the next st, pass the slipped stitch over (equals one bind-off)."
I think the purpose is to get a nice sloped edge to the bind-off. So I tried my version of the sloped bind-off, but abandoned it after a couple of attempts. It sure seemed fiddly. Instead, I slipped the first stitch of every row, knit the last stitch of every row, and did my regular bind off. Nice sloped edges.
Tip #1
The other thing that was a learning experience was dealing with rows where there weren't an equal number of increases and decreases. For example, before dividing for the fronts and back, there are 11 full repeats of the pattern. For every 2 increases, there are 2 decreases. But once you get into the shaping, there aren't full repeats of the stitch pattern so you may end up with more or less stitches than you should.
To take care of this, I added increases or a decreases along the edges as needed. It took some minor adjustments keep the neck edges even. Only once did I have to rip back and redo part of the right front because the neck edge had an unsightly jog.
Tip #2
Similarly, the sleeves for the medium size have an odd number of repeats to start. Starting at bottom edge of the sleeve, each right side row decreases the total stitch count by 2. From row 13 to row 24, each right side row increases the stitch count by 2.
Although the pattern said to cast on 68st for each sleeve, I cast on 70st. At the end of the first row I had 68st. From then on, I increased and decreased as necessary at the edges of the sleeves to keep the stitch count at 68.
3 Comments:
Very pretty, I'm thinking about making the flame. Are you happy with using wool rather than cotton? I see knitpicks now has affordable cotton and am trying to decide if I want cotton or wool.
By
Betsy Rheaume, at 4/17/2005 5:25 AM
Oh, I wish I'd read Tip 1 before completed one side....
:)
By
Anonymous, at 4/17/2005 9:07 AM
It just makes me crazy as a 'new' knitter that patterns really are not correct. It's like buying a car with items attached but don't work....
of course you don't know that until you're 100 miles from home and what you need to work doesn't.
I think Vogue should be ashamed of themselves. THAT is faulty merchandise when a pattern is wrong.
Kim
By
Anonymous, at 4/19/2005 12:19 PM
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