Knitting - help!

Bicycle I can only do a couple of crochet stitches so far but taught myself from YouTube videos.

I've not attempted a pattern yet, only squares etc so I shall be interested in any replies too.
Attempts over the years ended up in triangular shaped pieces, not squares but there are lots of helpful videos online and there must be some for left handers too.

Hello everyone , I am left handed and crochet , can do blankets but find it impossible to follow pattern , where am I going wrong ?

I still think casting off 3 stitches at beginning of the next two rows gives the best, least bulky finish, especially for a garment for a baby.
It gives a level edge and the extra row can easily be lost when inserting the sleeves.

There should be a corresponding decrease on the sleeves so they will match up with the fronts and back.

So how do you do it - I mean the best way?

I’ve never been faced with this, but having applied my decrepit little grey cells (at some length I might add) I’ve worked out that what I’d do is knit (or purl) to the last 4 stitches.
And then,
1. Knit the first 2 together (1 decrease)
2. Knit that combined stitch and the next together. (2nd decrease)
3. Knit that combined stitch and the last together. (3rd decrease.
Is there a more professional way? I now feel compelled to try it out on a few rows of a bit of stash and see whether it looks a mess!

I may have knit this pattern (twice) and thought 'never again'!
Perhaps I will have to search through my stash of patterns to see what it said.

That is odd, I’ve never come across it before. I’d also knit two stitches together three times, I think. Good luck, OP!

That is quite odd . I wonder if it means knit two together three times .

Sorry I have not been back. When I submitted my query, it said "access denied", so I thought it hadn't been posted!

The instructions are "decrease 3 stitches at the beginning and end of the next row." The only way I could think of getting rid of 3 stitches at the beginning of the row was to cast them off but I couldn't think how to do the other end. It is very frustrating, as I have knitted the damn thing twice before and should know what to do.

I was thinking of casting off 3 at the beginning of the next row, which should give me the same shape both sides. I suspect I must have done that before, but I can't remember.

I will probably be back for advice when I reach the part where I have to switch to circular needles and pick up stitches. I do know I found that hard on the previous occasions and I think I resorted to YouTube in the end.

Thanks very much for your helpful suggestions. They were very encouraging.

I hope @Bluecat comes back. I am desperate to know how she got on . Also I would like to see the finished bolero.

The baby could be wearing it by now!!

Ah, I see .

Those are the instructions I would expect to see, to be honest, unless there were stitches in the middle (between the cast off ones) that were going to be used later.

Those are the instructions in both of my patterns, Doodledog.

I'm not sure what the OP's pattern said.

I don't know if it's me missing something, but those instructions are not asking you to cast off at the end of a row - it says 'cast off at the beginning of the next 2 rows'.

It wasn't the underarm decrease then? It may not make a y difference there.

I could not follow the you tube tutorial. I got round it Knitting the row to the three stitches before the end cast off the stitches and snipped the wool and fastened off the last stitch. Then I rejoined and continued knitting. As the bolero edges are close together it does need to match.

Bluecat
I found a King Cole bolero pattern and for the back, when you reach the armhole shaping, it says:
Cast off 5 stitches at beginning of next two rows (size 22")

Also a Peter Pan baby cardigan:
For the back armhole shaping
Cast off three stitches at beginning of next two rows

I can recommend the Peter Pan pattern for a baby girl although it's not a bolero, it's very pretty and simpler than it looks.
Peter Pan P963

Bluecat

What does the pattern actually say?

moggie57

get a pattern for a bolero....

Bluecat has the pattern but, like many of us, has a blank on how to carry out this particular instruction, moggie.

I'm going to try and find my bolero pattern and see if it's similar, Bluecat.

get a pattern for a bolero....

I have done a lot of knitting (the more complicated the better)! and I have never come across casting off stitches at the end of a row. You would end up with a 'round knobble' at the end of the row if you knit 4 stitches together.

Alternatively, when you get to the last six stiches, knit two together three times - K2 (3) - but that would not be casting off it would be shaping.

I would go for casting of three stitches at the beginning of next two rows.

I can't knit any more as it has caused arthritis in my left little finger, which controlled the tension.
Too painful to knit but I can crochet!

Of course you are right about not stitching three together. The video uses a big loop of yarn and looks a bit complicated. I think you would have to practice On a spare sample piece.

I have knitted a couple of patterns recently with this instruction. I cast off the last 3 stitches and usually have to leave the rest of the stitches on a holder to join later.
If you are to continue knitting. I would simply cast off 3 on the next row.
Hope that helps

If you cast off at the end of a row you will have to break and rejoin the yarn, or you will ‘drag’ the stitches behind the yarn when you start the next row.

Can you take a photo of the pattern instructions for us to look at, please? Or copy exactly what it says? I don’t think you can cast off at the end unless it is the final row of the pattern, or of that ‘part’ of it (eg the sleeve).

I had this problem following a stroke a few years ago. It's certain random rows in a pattern that I just can't follow... Luckily my sister has always been on hand to help out. You probably have it sorted now but hopefully realised that casting off 3 stitches will totally change the shape of a garment from decreasing? What I now try to do when I get this frustrating brain freeze, is try out options for myself. Get to the last 6 stitches then try various techniques you do remember until you've lost 3 of them! Then write down how you did it! It sounds a faff but it'll help jog your memory in the right direction for other things too, if you try and work things out first. Good luck and stick at it! I was told in hospital that knitting is the best recuperation aid for various problems!

It could be rather bulky if you knit stitches together, especially for a baby's garment.
It's quite easy to adjust one row difference in decreases when sewing up.