[Knitting] Lace Chart Question

[kniteracy]

So I am making these eyelet socks from Garnstudio. The pattern is a free .pdf.

Everything has gone swimmingly, from the lovely picot edge, through the first very simple lace pattern, right down to (eerie music) Chart M2.


The chart's all in Norwegian, but offers this English translation:
Explanation to pattern diagram (explanations in the same order as symbols on the Norwegian chart, which is a graphic, as this bit doesn't seem to be.

= K
= P
= yo
= K2 tog
= slip 1 st as if to knit, K1, psso

eyelet socks charts Right, here's the picture.

The problem I'm having is in Round 12 of chart M2.

As I read this, the instructions for the Round 12 pattern (from right to left, because I learned to read charts flat and just do it that way) should be:
K3, yo, [s1, k1, psso], k2tog, yo, k3

Problem: There are 9 blocks on the chart.
Those instructions require 10 stitches.

Am I reading the chart wrong? Could it be a misprint? The photo of the socks seems to show a symmetrical lace block below that first eyelet band, which is where we are in the pattern. I'm thiking seriously about just subbing the pattern on Round 16, which does add up to nine in my estimation, and having done. Any other suggestions?

Comments

[aunty_marion]

No, it's the chart that is wrong/misleading. I happened to have a bit of knitting with ten stitches on so I tried just that pattern section. The instructions do take 10 stitches, but I think the last one is really part of the next block of (presumably) another lace/eyelet bit. I assume they printed the chart like that rather than take out one block at the end of that row.

Um. Have now tried this twice. I'm not so sure about the symmetry of the lace now - I seem to get two holes fairly central, then on the next row (row 14) the first one is outside the one below it (which appears from the picture to be correct), but the second one is slightly inside the one below that; on row 16 they're back to central again, with only one stitch between. So for me, it's row 14 that looks odd. Unless, as you say, Row 12 is just plain wrong. I'm not getting symmetry, there's an extra stitch between the two holes on Row 12 (compared to Row 16). I've even double-checked by reading the Norwegian/Swedish/Danish, which seems to have definitely been translated correctly!

*thinks* What would happen if, after doing the [s1 k1 psso[, you then transferrd that stitch back to the left needle and did your k2tog using that and the next stitch? That would then only use your 9 stitches, and would make only one stitch remaining between the holes, which would match the effect on Row 16.

Or am *I* reading the pattern wrong? OTOH, I don't know if something different happens (due to the number of total stitches in the round) when you do the full pattern repeat all the way round.

[aunty_marion]

Yes, doing the transfer back and using that for the k2tog works better for symmetry; my yo came out rather sloppy, though, so be careful with tension if you try it.

[aunty_marion]

Tried that again, being more careful with the yo tension, and it works nicely. Try it and see what you think - you do get the k2tog showing up a little more boldly between the first pair of holes, but I think it looks OK.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

On my lunch break, I did these five rounds, with the two k rounds at the end. I'm unsatisfied with the way it looks; the second YO looks much bigger than the first one, even though I was careful with the tension. I'm probably going to rip it out and try it with two round 16s instead of the round 12 as written. Actually, I'm going to rip the whole thing out and start again on 2mm needles; I don't like the way things are showing up on the 2.5s.

[aunty_marion]

I don't do much lace, so I'm wondering what the rationale is behind the difference between round 12 and round 16. Do the holes made by different methods look different? Is it to do with the psso and the k2tog slanting in different ways? (i.e. are they trying to get the slants outwards and then inwards, or something?)

And it was the first yo that went sloppy for me - the one *before* doing the [transfer back to left needle, k2tog] bit. The first time I tried it, it ended up with a huge loop and the hole was larger, so the second time I pulled it very firm at each stage, and that looked better.

Have just taken a phone photo to send to you - hope it works! The bottom two efforts are using the pattern as writ; the next one is my first attempt at my modification, with a loop where I've had to pull yarn through to even up the holes; the top one (which I hope shows up!) is much tidier.

[tibicina.livejournal.com]

the two stitches slant opposite ways and are supposed to look like mirror images. (There are a couple of other ways to do the decrease that slants that way and different knitters each have their favorites.) At one point I found a web page with a demonstration someone had done of the different increases and decreases and explanations. You could scroll down and see them all and how they each looked in the finished piece.

[quadrivium.livejournal.com]

I have no idea about the chart, but the socks in the picture are absolutely adorable! Good luck with the pattern!

[janciega.livejournal.com]

If you look closely at the chart, the k2tog and skp sts are over 3 sts rather than over 4 sts. What *I'd* do is k3, yo, centered DOUBLE decrease, yo, k3.

Of course, they don't give a symbol for that, so maybe I'm just crazy.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

And you'd do a centred double decrease by s1, k1, psso, then pass the left stitch over as well?

Or am I grasping. I do not knit a lot of lace, so the slanted centre decrease is foreign to me. :)

Splain, O Lace Goddess!

[janciega.livejournal.com]

I'd probably do a centered double decrease. That's where you slip 2 sts together as if to knit, knit the next st, then pass the 2 slipped sts over the knitted st. That puts the center st on top, and you'd keep that line down the center of the pattern.

Here's a link with pictures:
http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog/lucia/766

[telynor.livejournal.com]

this solution -rocked-!

Thank you! Pictures coming in another post. :-)

[janciega.livejournal.com]

Good deal. Can't wait for pix!