I have managed to avoid harikari so far - but I've done a lot of frogging on this vest pattern from Pierrot Yarns. I can't tell you how many times I've started over again, each time armed with a little bit more knowledge into this wonderful world of Japanese knitting patterns.
First of all, I've found that most of the charted symbols are the same as US symbols. Some are sort of the same, with an odd variation. The Pierrot site has videos of all the stitches, so be sure to take a minute and double-check to see if you're on the right track.
A glaring example of this is the left-leaning decrease SSK (slip, slip, k2tog tbl) with the familiar symbol:
In Japanese patterns, this is a left-leaning decrease:
After wrestling with this for a while, believing all to be well, my pattern was still pretty wonky so I went to the Pierrot site and checked their video library. The left-leaning decrease turned out to be a slip, knit pass slipstich over (SKPSSO). Mastering this part of the pattern has actually made me feel quite hopeful about this vest. I'm planning to play it safe and put in LOTS more life lines as soon as I publish this entry. This is what I've done successfully so far:
It's the R front panel of the Pierrot vest 211 210 30 in Soft Linen by Classic Elite Yarns color #2248 on size three US 24 in circulars, just because I like to knit flat on circulars!
We were planning on visiting friends for an overnight - but the weather's a little dicey.
Stay safe and warm this weekend. Happy knitting and thanks for reading. A special shout out to my most loyal reader from Boston, whoever you are! Bless your heart for sticking with me!
I am hoping the weather remains passable for me to come to your place Wednesday! I cannot even fathom Japanese knitting right now . . . I am struggling away at some old basics of "American" knitting and can't wait to get your expert help!!!!
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