Reverse Shaping for Alpine

I thought I would take a few minutes and do a special post on reverse shaping. Rachel and I are currently working on Alpine. Yes, it's a coincidence. I've caught up with Rachel and have finished my right front piece. I thought this would be a great time to review what I've done.

I'm not a big fan of seeing "reverse the shaping of the left front to make the right front" in most instructions. When I do come across this type of instructions, I immediately write out the "shaping" instructions for the left front. When I get ready to the right front, I write out the instructions but reverse whatever I do for the left front. Confused? Not a problem. I've included a picture of my notes for both the left and right fronts of Alpine.


The left post-it note represents the shaping for the left front. The right post-it note represents the shaping I did for the right front. "R" stands for right side and "W" represents the wrong side


In summary:

- If I have done a BO on the left armhole right side (RS), I will need to do a BO on the right armhole on the wrong side (WS).

- If I have done a BO on the front left neckline WS, I will need to do a BO on the right neckline on the RS.

- If I have done a decrease on the left armhole with an SSK, I will need to do a decrease on the right armhole using K2tog.

- If I have done a decrease on the left neckline with a K2tog, I will need to do a decrease on the front right neckline with an SSK.

So, I end up writing out what I'm doing for the RS and WS until all my appropriate BOs and decreases are accounted for.

Here's a picture of my right and left fronts and the results of my reverse shaping:

The two fronts


Another view of both fronts


Here's a picture of the two buttons I'm contemplating for this cardi:

One dressy and one casual. Which button do I choose?

BTW...this Alpine Cardigan is knitting up fast! I'm now working on my sleeves.

I'm also resisting the urge to CO my CPHoodie. I must finish Alpine!

Happy Knitting!