I’ve got this chevron pattern I’m trying to work and I can’t seem to get this row right:
(italics mine)
I start with 18 sts and I know I’m supposed to end with 18, but I keep ending with 17. And is that italics part supposed to be double increase? I can’t understand how you’d do a decrease with a yarn over…
I just tried it, and ended up with only sixteen stitches. That’s because of the decreases on each side of the pattern, which if I was trying to knit something with vertical edges, I would just ignore.
The idea is that you add two stitches, then get rid of two stitches, then add two stitches, then get rid of two stitches, and after several rows that bends the fabric into the chevron shape.
The part you put in italics is obviously a typo. It is supposed to read double increase.
Still… why are you ending up with seventeen? You are PSSO both of those slipped stitches, right? Not just one?
Yup, something’s wrong with this pattern as written. You do start out with 18 sts, but at the end of the row, you’ll have 16:
Instruction Stitch count
K1 1
k2tog 2
K4 6
(K1,yo, k1) 9 (double INCREASE)
k4 13
sl2kp 14 (slip 2 sts knitwise, k1, should be pass 2 slipped sts over to
make it a double decrease)
SSK 15
K1 16
The problem arises from the fact that your K2 tog at the beginning and the SSK at the end don’t have a corresponding increase anywhere. If you do decreases with no corresponding yo/increase, you’ll steadily lose stitches. Are you sure there’s not a yo after the k2 tog and before the last SSK?
Crap, I meant to preview, but got carried away and posted. So my columns in the post don’t line up like they did when I typed the entry. :smack:
Sorry.
Thanks for the help. I didn’t realize I needed to pass both slipped stitches back for the psso. For some reason, I didn’t process that double decrease part. :smack: So, that would give me 16 too.
I copied the pattern exactly from the book; I just checked it again. I guess it’s just missing a couple increases somewhere. I’ll add a couple yo’s and see how that turns out.
If it’s a recent book, go online to the publisher’s website and look for errata…tons of corrections are posted online. There are also general knitting websites that keep lists of the misprints and corrections for knitting directions.
Thanks. That looks like a really helpful site. I’m sure it’ll come in handy. It doesn’t have mine on there (Knitting for Dummies, btw) but that’s ok. It was just a practice pattern and there’s a chevron scarf pattern elsewhere in the book I can use for practice instead.
Seren one thing to consider is that in some patterns, the number of stitches in a row doesn’t remain constant. Stitches may be removed in one row only to be added a few rows later. If I get time, I can find an example or two of this. Before you go inserting yarn-overs, take a look at the entire pattern.
If you like, e-mail me the entire pattern (my e-mail address is in my profile), and I’ll look through it and see if I can explain how it works.
The entire pattern is just two rows repeated: the one I listed earlier followed by a row of purling. Thanks for the offer of help though. I’ve been driving myself nuts over the past couple of days trying to figure that pattern out. I assume it’s supposed to be a constant number of rows instead of constantly decreasing. The picture of the finished piece looks pretty straight on the sides. With the decrease/increase typo in the book, I wouldn’t be that surprised if there was an increase left out somewhere too.
I sketched your pattern out and I’m wondering if the yarnover in the repeat isn’t intended to be a double yarnover. I’m now rather intrigued by the problem, so I may get some scrap yarn tonight and try some experiments. That, or, if you like, I’ve got copies of of Barbara Walkers Treasury of Knitting Patterns books. I should be able to find a similar chevron pattern.
I wondered that too a little, whether the (K1, yo, K1) in one stitch shouldn’t be (yo, k1, yo) in one st. I think that’s more what you usually see in a chevron sort of pattern. But without seeing a picture of the finished stitch, it’s hard to guess.
OK, I admit it. This has been bugging me. You see, I don’t see how this 2 row repeat could produce a chevron. Instead, it seems to me you’d get a line of yarnovers on either side of a stitch, rather than a V shape, no matter how you work the pattern. I’ve looked for similar patterns, and they haven’t produced a chevron. I’m not sure it’s possible to get one working one row of pattern and one row plain.
Seren, here’s some advice from an old knitter. There comes a time when the only thing to do with a pattern is give up on it before throwing it violently across a room. This may be it. I’ve done it, and I had most of a baby sweater completed. If you’ve got more information you’d like to give us, such as the number of stitches you’re working with, what you’re making or where the pattern came from, please do let me know and we’ll see what we can come up with. If you were closer to my neck of the woods, I’d offer to help you out in person.
Yeah, having thrown my needles across the room for 4 days straight, I finally gave up on this one.
Thanks very much for helping me. I really appreciate it. I think there’s just a misprint somewhere in the pattern. For anyone that’s interested, it’s in Knitting for Dummies, page 143. If I had a scanner, I’d upload the picture of the finished pattern. I don’t know enough yet to be able to guess the stitches from looking at the finished piece. 
I totally disagree - I find throwing it violently across the room an emotionally satisfying experience. Drop kicking also works well.
Anyway, there’s no way you’re going to get a chevron out of that pattern (it’s one double increase short - as in I think:
k1, k2tog *k4, (k1,yo,k1) in next st, k4, sl next 2 sts together as if to knit, k1, psso; rep from *, k4, (k1, yo, k1) in next st, k4, ssk, k1.
would work - but I haven’t tried it…just thinking it through. (multiple of 12+15 if anyone wants to try it).
One other thing, doing at least 2 repeats of the pattern is sometimes useful, even though the numbers work with just one repeat, the pattern sometimes becomes more clear with both (so, to try the pattern as written, casting on 30 may have helped - if the pattern weren’t broken).
Ok, I can’t resist a challenge. I pulled out the needles and worked up a swatch.
The pattern is actually written almost correctly. (But only almost!)
Original pattern:
It should say something like this:
K1, k2tog, *k4, (k1, yo, k1) in next st (double INcrease using yo), k4, sl next 2 sts together as if to knit, k1, psso (double decrease); rep from *. On LAST REPEAT, instead of (sl next 2 sts tog as if to knit, k1, psso), work SSK, k1.
Try this:
Cast on 27 sts (will give 2 repeats of the pattern);
K1, k2 tog
K4
K1, yo, k1 in same stitch
K4
sl 2 sts as if to knit, k1, pass 2 slipped sts over
k4
K1, yo, k1 in same stitch
k4
ssk, k1
Purl back – 27 sts.
On your next row, when you get to the double increase (k1, yo, k1 in one st), you should be on the stitch over the yo in the earlier row – you’ll see a little hole there. That tells you you’re in the right place.
It does do a nice up and down chevron pattern when you finally figure it out!
If you’re following along in a Barbara Walker treasury, the closest pattern I found was the “Twelve-stitch rib” from the first treasury. (I’d give you a page #, but my copy is from the late 70’s, and probably won’t correspond to what you have. 
) Instead of k1, yo, k1 in one st for the double increase, she uses yo, k1, yo, but the principle is the same. Her pattern has a line with yo’s on either side; this pattern has a center hole going up.
If you’re desperate for a picture, I can probably come up with one.
Yes, but the problem I’ve run into with drop kicking is it’s a little too easy for your foot to get tangled in the yarn and then, well, let’s just say I spent enough time on crutches last summer! :eek: