Sweater o' Doom: Finishing
I am very close to finishing the second of the two sleeves for the Aran sweater. What I'm not quite understanding is the finishing of the neckband. This is how it reads:
Neckband: Sew right shoulder seam. With right side of work facing and smaller needles, pick up and knit 20 sts down left front neck edge. Knit across 28 sts from front st holder as follows: P2.K1.K2tog.K1.(P2tog)twice.K3.P2.K3.(P2tog)twice.K1.K2tog.K1.P2. Pick up and knit 20 sts up right front neck edge. Knit across 42 sts from back st holder dec 2 sts evently across. 102 sts.
1st row: (Wrong side).K2 *P3.K2. Rep from * to end of row.
2nd row: P2 *K3.P2. Rep from * to end of row. Rep last 2 rows for 3 1/2 ins. Cast off in ribbing. Sew left shoulder and neckband seam.
Sew in sleeves. Sew side and sleeve seams.
I understand the literal stitch instructions. I'm not sure at this point of the literal directions of right and left with respect to the work. I'm assuming the right and left shoulders are the right and left as they would be from the perspective of someone wearing the garment and not someone looking down at the garment. But maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I'm confused as when I looked at my reference book (not the same as the booklet for the pattern) for "picking up stitches," they show a knitting needle entering from the right side if you're looking at the work, so I'm not really not sure of all this, let alone the repeated picking up of stitches...let alone the actual picking up of stitches, which from the reference book isn't just shoving your needle through loops, but something involving extra yarn from the ball being looped around or woven or whatever. I also read something about picking up 1 to 1 horizontally, but 3 stitches for every 4 on the vertical...which relieves me slightly, because there are definitely more than 20 stitches on each side of the neckline from the shoulder seam down to the actual bottom of the neckline where the stitch holder is. Argh.
I'm so impatient to get this finally DONE that it is taking all my willpower not to just butcher it completely and just raggedly patch it together and knit some crazy shit for the neckband in some crazy process and whipstitch the seams together rather than this weaving thing I'm reading in the "Teach Yourself to Knit" reference book.
Yeah, and I tied the ends off the times I worked new yarn in, which I'm seeing now is a big no-no, and maybe even if I manage to fit this thing together it will fall apart and unravel the first time I wear it or wash it. Maybe I'll just get a glue gun.
Neckband: Sew right shoulder seam. With right side of work facing and smaller needles, pick up and knit 20 sts down left front neck edge. Knit across 28 sts from front st holder as follows: P2.K1.K2tog.K1.(P2tog)twice.K3.P2.K3.(P2tog)twice.K1.K2tog.K1.P2. Pick up and knit 20 sts up right front neck edge. Knit across 42 sts from back st holder dec 2 sts evently across. 102 sts.
1st row: (Wrong side).K2 *P3.K2. Rep from * to end of row.
2nd row: P2 *K3.P2. Rep from * to end of row. Rep last 2 rows for 3 1/2 ins. Cast off in ribbing. Sew left shoulder and neckband seam.
Sew in sleeves. Sew side and sleeve seams.
I understand the literal stitch instructions. I'm not sure at this point of the literal directions of right and left with respect to the work. I'm assuming the right and left shoulders are the right and left as they would be from the perspective of someone wearing the garment and not someone looking down at the garment. But maybe I'm wrong. Either way, I'm confused as when I looked at my reference book (not the same as the booklet for the pattern) for "picking up stitches," they show a knitting needle entering from the right side if you're looking at the work, so I'm not really not sure of all this, let alone the repeated picking up of stitches...let alone the actual picking up of stitches, which from the reference book isn't just shoving your needle through loops, but something involving extra yarn from the ball being looped around or woven or whatever. I also read something about picking up 1 to 1 horizontally, but 3 stitches for every 4 on the vertical...which relieves me slightly, because there are definitely more than 20 stitches on each side of the neckline from the shoulder seam down to the actual bottom of the neckline where the stitch holder is. Argh.
I'm so impatient to get this finally DONE that it is taking all my willpower not to just butcher it completely and just raggedly patch it together and knit some crazy shit for the neckband in some crazy process and whipstitch the seams together rather than this weaving thing I'm reading in the "Teach Yourself to Knit" reference book.
Yeah, and I tied the ends off the times I worked new yarn in, which I'm seeing now is a big no-no, and maybe even if I manage to fit this thing together it will fall apart and unravel the first time I wear it or wash it. Maybe I'll just get a glue gun.