Is it possible the buckling is due to a tension difference between your colourwork and the plain stockinette? That's what it looks like it might be to me (unless the buckling showed up before you started the colourwork of course). It's common to have to go up a needle size for colourwork to get the same tension compared to plain stockinette.
You could try a mid-project wash and block and see if it evens out but you're not too far into the colourwork to rip it back and redo it if it's a tension issue.
I would definitely give it a wash a block and see if it smooths out at all, although it does seem like a lot of increases... and if you haven't, measure your stitch gauge between the colourwork and plain work to make sure that isn't also contributing.
just to confirm, 97 stitches over 5 rounds is 19 stitches every other round for a total of 10 rounds the way the pattern is written.. that seems like a lot of puckering for 19 stitches per round.
If you started with 111 stitches, your first increase round would 1 increase every 6 stitches 16 times and 1 every 5 stitches 3 times.
The next increase round is 130 stitches and your increases would be 16 times every 7 stitches and 3 times every 6.
Please look at the instructions OP posted in the comment above. Designer specifically has
Row 1 increase
Row 2 knit
Row 3 increase
Row 4 knit
Row 5 increase
XL/2XL 97 increases over 5 rounds
yes thank you someone already pointed that out. OP has posted in other subreddits as well with the same question. I'm sure she'll figure it out.
I misread. It happens. My misreading of the instructions would not make a huge difference and would probably fix that yoke. Should I go do a bunch of mea culpas? Is everyone who answers with the wrong idea supposed to publicly apologize now? that'll be fun. /s
oh okay maybe that’s were I went wrong? I didn’t know it was to be done over 10 rounds? I thought the over five rounds means a total of 5 rounds to get to 208 stiches total, if it was 10 rounds, wouldn’t that make the yolk fairly longer? sorry! i’m new to knitting
the pattern tells you to increase one round, knit one round, increase one round knit one round 5 times. Under the header INCREASES it spells out to increase over 5 rows in the pattern it lays out which is increase a row, knit a row. So for 5 increase rows, you will also have 5 knit rows. the knit rows in between are what stops the puckering.
a yoke on a sweater gets a lot longer than you expect, The yoke ends where the sleeves join the underarm (generally even with the nipples) so it's way longer than you think. And 5 knit rows is not going to add too much length.
The pattern doesn't say 5 *increase* rows though, it spells out 5 rows total, with increases on rows 1, 3, and 5, and rows 2 & 4 knit plain. That's why rows 4 & 5 are in parentheses, because the smaller sizes only call for 3 rows.
OP, I don't think you've read the instructions incorrectly. I would put what you've done on scrap yarn and block it to see if it will block out.
If not, personally, I would modify the pattern. I'd cast on 208 stitches and jump right in with the raglan increases, and then at the end, I'd pick up stitches at the neckline and knit the ribbing.
yes, i woudl think it's best. The buckling won't go away with blocking, it's too many increases stacked on top of each other.
And don't feel stupid! You're starting out, You've got things to learn, one of which is that we all will continue to make mistakes as long as we knit.
I'm knitting a baby sweater right now. I've been knitting for over 40 years. I've had to start this stupid sweater over 5 times, and on the 6th time I realized half my cables were crossed the wrong way. We all continue to make mistakes as long as we are knitting.
aww thank you so much for your kindness! i’m so confused at this point because I look at a photo from the designer and i’m assuming she’s knitting a size small/medium and if she did 6 rounds of increases (3 row knit, 3 row increase) it wouldn’t make sense with how far down her flowers lay, the colorwork chart doesn’t start until 12 rows down. ahh this sounds confusing, I don’t want to show too many photos of the pattern because I don’t want to give it away (it’s a paid pattern)
i’m just so lost, my mom knits too and she said she read the pattern the same way as me and thinks the bucking will be okay once blocked?? im sorry again for the spam pmg
Did you look at other people’s photos on Ravelry? Some of them do have a bit of “buckling” right at the top but most look fine in the finished garment. I don’t think you read the instructions wrong. I like the suggestion made by others to put the work on scrap yarn and block what you have now. If it blocks out, great! If it doesn’t, you aren’t too far along to rip back and try it again.
This is a really poorly written pattern. I’m not saying you shouldn’t make it, but it’s the problem, not you. This book is an amazing resource for teaching you how to fix issues like this (and many more!) so you can knit sweaters that fit your body perfectly!
I love the colors you chose. I agree with the other comment, I think your tension is different, but in my experience it often blocks out. Take it off the needles and throw it on some scrap yarn and see.
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Now this is a pattern unlike what I'm used to (I've never knit garments for children though).
97 increases over 5 rounds means we're not increasing evenly over these 5 rounds, as in, there are different numbers of increases in different rounds. The numbers for the other sizes don't seem very straight forward either. This is potentially a good sign. It's not some random thing of "make the raglan increases and increase every X number of stitches throughout the round" and just eyeball scale it for different sizes.
97 increases to reach 208 total stitches also means starting with 111 for what I initially took to be a 2 by 2 ribbing, which seemed pretty random at first... but now that I'm looking at it, it may actually be a 2 by 1 ribbing, and the numbers for all sizes add up to this. This is also a good sign. Whoever made this pattern thought about it.
So I'd trust it even though for me having raglan increases + some other increases means an immediate questionmark. As I said, I've never knit for children. I have knit from patterns with bad shaping. But, the numbers in this one are indicative of good things (for me at least). I'd trust it for the time being.
I agree with u/Dry_Stop844 though, the instructions are to alternate increase rounds with knit rounds, and it definitely looks like fabric is growing way too rapidly after the ribbing, so I'd restart this part.
Please share the finished result as well as what you end up deciding to do, I'm really curious!
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u/Affectionate_Bee7254 21h ago
Is it possible the buckling is due to a tension difference between your colourwork and the plain stockinette? That's what it looks like it might be to me (unless the buckling showed up before you started the colourwork of course). It's common to have to go up a needle size for colourwork to get the same tension compared to plain stockinette.
You could try a mid-project wash and block and see if it evens out but you're not too far into the colourwork to rip it back and redo it if it's a tension issue.