Knitters- help a newbie. What did I do wrong?

[chuicafina]

I apologize for the sideways picture. I took it and uploaded from my iPhone, not sure what went wrong. Anyway, can you see that line right where I started my decreases? That row was knit 2, purl 2 tog, and it looks like every purl 2 tog got crossed, but I'm not sure why. Can anyone tell just by looking what I did wrong? I'm sure it's a rookie mistake, but I'm, well, a rookie.



Thanks in advance!

[charlatti]

I'm not positive, but it looks like you might be off by a stitch. If the p2togs were over one (or two?) more, they'd be lined up with the purls instead of being half on the knit columns. That's my best guess -- hopefully a more experienced knitter will be able to say for sure.

[chuicafina]

Nov 19, 2012 7:50:52 GMT -5 charlatti said:

I'm not positive, but it looks like you might be off by a stitch. If the p2togs were over one (or two?) more, they'd be lined up with the purls instead of being half on the knit columns. That's my best guess -- hopefully a more experienced knitter will be able to say for sure.

Hmm...I really don't think I was off. I was pretty careful, and there was nothing wonky about the decreases numbers-wise. Everything went right according to the pattern. This is the second time I've gotten this line when making a ribbed hat, too.

I've heard about and used k2tog from the back, and thought maybe there's an equivalent for p2tog, but I'm not sure what that would look like, or even what to search for on the internet. Newbie much?

[bluelikejazz]

do you have a link to the pattern? It looks like you are trying to decrease a knit stitch with a p2tog. Does the right side of the picture have k2, p2 ribbing? If so, you should be p2tog across the 2 purl stitches, while keeping the k2 in pattern.

[chuicafina]

Nov 19, 2012 13:03:18 GMT -5 bluelikejazz said:

do you have a link to the pattern? It looks like you are trying to decrease a knit stitch with a p2tog. Does the right side of the picture have k2, p2 ribbing? If so, you should be p2tog across the 2 purl stitches, while keeping the k2 in pattern.

I don't have a link, but the pattern was basically this:

For the hat part:
knit 2, purl 2 (24 sts per dpn, 72 total) ...repeat until you get to 10 inches.

Then to shape the crown:
Row 1: knit 2, purl 2 tog
Row 2: Knit 2, purl 1
Row 3: Knit 2, purl 1 (again)
Row 4: Knit 2, purl 1 (again)
Row 5: Knit 2 tog, purl 1
Row 6: Knit 1, purl 1
Row 7: A knit and a purl tog
Row 8: Knit a row around
Row 9: Knit 2 tog; repeat to end (and you're left with 9 sts)

It makes sense, and I'm fairly sure that I did it according to the pattern. Is there a special way to purl 2 tog? It seems like it would be fairly straight forward.

[charlatti]

Is your line on round 7 or round 1? If it's on 1, then it really looks like it's over the knit stitches instead of the purl. If it's on 7, then I'm not sure.

Did you check out any videos of p2tog to make sure you're doing it correctly? Continental: www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/purl-2-together-continental
English: www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/purl-2-together-english

[chuicafina]

It's on round 1. I think I'm going to undo it and start the decreases over tonight just to see what's up. You might be right charlatti. I'll be sure to report back. Thanks for helping!

[bluelikejazz]

If it's on round 1, it looks like you did a p2tog over a knit and purl stitch rather than 2 purl stitches.

Is this how you are doing it?

[charlatti]

Nov 20, 2012 13:18:31 GMT -5 bluelikejazz said:

If it's on round 1, it looks like you did a p2tog over a knit and purl stitch rather than 2 purl stitches.

I think that's it too. I said over the knit stitches before, but it does look like it's over a k and a p.

[chuicafina]

Okay so I undid my work until just before the decreases. Now I've done one needle on the first row. The crosses are showing up again and I swear I'm knitting the knits and purling together the purls. But, I noticed it's not on the inside, which I guess is the right side. Is it possible that this line is just inevitable on the wrong side of the fabric? I didn't even check earlier when the hat was almost done, and now I feel dumb. I thought that ribbing didn't have a wrong side, but maybe with decreases it does? Could that be the answer?

If so, I'm taking it as a case of "learning something new with every project."