Deconstructing Audrey (Well, the Decreases At Least)

Since I'm one of the Audrey crew that decided to make Ms. Hargreaves' decreases as is, I thought it might be nice to show you all what I did now that the body is complete. Despite the fact that there are several variations available to you through the other Audrey-ettes, if you are new to decreases, or just new to decreases on 2x2 ribbing, this might be a decrease method that you'll want to learn - it's pretty commonly used and I think it gives a nice result. (Though I can't wait to see how Becky's short row alternative works out!)

If you just want to see the decreases, click here. I've lined them up so that you can view the front and reverse sides as you would on the needles. If you want the full deal, read my extended entry. I've spent some time on this, but it's a lot easier to knit than describe, so let me know if you see an error. I'm good, but I'm not infallible!

The Tutorial

First of all, let's start with the "marked stitch." You can "mark" it by placing a jump ring on either the right or the left side of it. You just need to be consistent so that you can easily identify it from either side of the work - the wrong side or the right side. Do this by using the center line of the body (an imaginary vertical line that divides the front or back - whichever you are working on - in half into two identical pieces) as a reference. When the wrong side of the work is facing you on the row where you are instructed to place the markers, either place both of the markers on the side of the stitches that is closest to center line or both on the side of the stitches that is farthest from center line.* So for the XS size:

Don't put a stitch marker through the stitch itself. You will have to move it every row (and probably quickly lose your place), and you'll risk splitting up your yarn. Not pretty.

Next follow the instructions. Work in rib until three stitches before the marked stitch. No matter how you marked your stitch, this will always be the same number of stitches. K3tog, purl the marked stitch, rib to the next marked stitch, purl marked stitch, K3tog tbl, rib to end (again, same number of sts despite marker placement). So for the XS size, you start out with 90 sts:

After this row you have 4 less stitches (3 become 1 on the k3togs) = 86 stitches. Your "marked" stitches are now stitch 23 and stitch 63 - same stitch, different placement.

Now you want to work the wrong side "in pattern". The tricky thing about this is that the pattern has changed a little, due to the drecreases. For size XS:

See what you're doing? You're knitting the wrong side of the lone purl stitch, and purling the wrong side of the k2togs. The rest is just rib.

Now knit happily along keeping this pattern - almost all 2x2 ribbing with one decrease area on each side where you have a 1x1 rib insert. Continue until the next decrease row.

Total remaining stitches = 82. Marked stitches are now 21 and 65. Starting to see it? Let's do the wrong side.

Kind of like magic, isn't it? by decreasing by 4 sts you're back on track for the 2x2 ribbing w/o an interruption by the 1x1. Pretty cool, eh? Now all you have to do is repeat this process again (with shifts where the decreases have occurred) and you're done with the decreasing portion of this program.

Here's the full monty (Size XS):

Row 10 (WS): Place Marker*: Rib25, pm, Rib40, pm, Rib25 or Rib24, pm, Rib42, pm Rib24
Row 11 (RS): Decrease 1: Rib20, p1, k3tog, Rib42, k3tog tbl, p1, Rib 20.
Row 12 (WS): Work In Pattern: Rib 20, k1, p1, Rib42, p1, k1, Rib 20.
Row 19 (RS): Decrease 2: Rib 18, k1, k3tog, Rib42, K3tog tbl, k1, Rib 18
Row 20 (WS): Work in Pattern: Rib the whole way across!
Don't forget to do the 3rd and 4th decreases. It's good practice to work these out for yourself if you still need to.

*If you can start to think of your sweaters and tanks in terms of mirror images it will help you immensely. Most of the time the instructions will require that you do something slightly different on each side. This is to achieve the "mirrored" look. If you have decreases on each side that lean in the same direction the result looks funny. The decreases (or increases) have to lean toward or away from each other to look right.

**One knitting convention that new knitters are seldom informed of is that decreases and increases usually take place on the right side, unless they occur on every row. When in doubt, use this rule.