I can be a little carefree when following a knitting pattern. I often improvise if I don’t like the way a pattern is written, or, if I know a short-cut – I’ll take it.  But I know there are plenty of you out there who might be a little less than willing  to do anything other than what you’re told. You are the good student, I am the bad.

But today I’m here to tell you sometimes that you don’t have to follow a pattern word-for-word and sometimes what a pattern says may not be exactly what it means. Here’s one example – decreasing or increasing along an edge.

My pattern stated “decrease 1 stitch along the neck edge every right side row”.   If I follow this exactly and decrease on the very edge of my row my knitting looks something like this.

But, if you don’t read the pattern so literally you can decrease a few stitches, I recommend 2, in from the edge and you’ll end up with something like this:

Can we all agree that the second photo looks better than the first? K, thanks.  It’ll also make your life a whole lot easier when picking up stitches on that edge if the pattern calls for it! The hard part is remembering this when you’re knitting!

UPDATE: so if you ARE one of those word-for-word people the pattern would say this instead: “Every right side row: K2, decrease 1 stitch, knit to end”