Saturday, January 26, 2008

HELP!!

I have some decrease questions that may be kind of simple, but I am still a beginning knitter. I am making my first hat. It is knit flat in K1 P1 ribbing and then seamed. I am to the decreasing part which i generally know how to do, but the ribbing is confusing me. I am supposed to continue in the rib pattern ( i was told to put stitch markers every 25 stitches) and decrease at the beginning of the row, before and after each stitch marker and at the end of the row. repeat this till i have 12 stitches. What I am confused about is which decrease to use and if it changes... do i knit the first two together, and then when I do that do i purl the next stitch to continue the ribbing or since my purl stitch was taken by the decrease do i knit. and then when i get to the stitch after the marker it is a stitch I am supposed to purl, so should i P2Tog if the stitch is a stitch that should be purled. These are probably really stupid questions... but I just want to make sure i get it right because this hat is my hubby's valentines day present.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys have.

8 comments:

Sally Comes Unraveled said...

This requires some thought, even if you are experienced. You may have to play it by ear and see what looks good.

I know that's not very helpful, but it's hard to tell without the actual knitting in front of me. Is the pattern online?

Diana said...

You've probably figured this out already, but I think the design means you to keep the rib pattern as you decrease. So if your decrease comes at a purl, as you said in your note, you should P2Tog. Hopefully, when you sew the seam, the rib pattern will be consistent. Good luck and let us know how you do. Look forward to seeing your completed hat!

laughing purple goldfish said...

just to confuse you... I am going to offer some slightly different advice ;)

throughout the project, you need to follow the pattern as dictated by the previous row

so, if the stitch beneath the one you are about to work is 'ridged' you purl... and if it is 'smooth' you knit

when you come to the decreases, I would follow the pattern beneath the 2nd stitch... eg. if the next stitches to be worked are K1, P1... I would P2tog (and if they were P1, K1... I would K2tog)

does that make sense?

you will need to be careful in the rows after this... to always concentrate on what the stitch below tells you to do... because you won't have a simple K1 P1 pattern any more....there will be the occasional K2 or P2 thrown in there

hope that helps

shaz

J said...

This does help a lot thanks! Sally the pattern is online it is a lion brand pattern it is called the Smoky Stripes Beanie (and scarf...but I am not making the scarf) if anyone wants to take a look at the pattern and see what they think that would be great too. I am going to think about these great suggestions in the mean time.

suzenew said...

Hi,
There are no stupid questions. We all have had these types of questions at some point and have either muddled through to figure them out or if we were lucky, had others to help.

I think that both pieces of advice you have been given are good and you may have to try each and see which looks best for your hat.

Also, you could check some of the online knitting resources: techknitter's blog and knittinghelp.com.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing your finished hat.

laughing purple goldfish said...

okay... I checked out the pattern you are using

because the decreases are done in pairs, it sound like it should not mess up your ribbing pattern

you should be able to just go... K1 P1 K1 P1 K2tog P2tog K1 P1 K1 P1 etc

and then the rows with no decreases should continue in the simple K1 P1 ribbing

J said...

lpg-
you are a life saver! thank you so much!!!! that makes perfect sense!!!

laughing purple goldfish said...

you're welcome... be sure and post a picture when you are done

shaz