Necklines
There are many ways of making a neckline: V-neck, scoop neck, square,
asymmetrical etc. However, the most common one is the round neck.
Knitting a neckline
First of all decide how wide and how deep you want the neckline to be and
calculate how many stitches you have to decrease using the tension gauge. In our example, a child's pullover,
the neckline is 14 cm wide and 5 cm deep. In a tension gauge of 18 stitches and 24 rows,
24 stitches would have to be cast off over 12 rows. Including the edge stitches, the
correct width will be reached after picking up the stitches.
Start casting off in the middle of the row (about a third to half of the neckline
stitches) and, starting with the stitches to the left of centre, decrease on a regular
basis so that a round form appears. At the end work a few rows straight and then cast off
the shoulder stitches. For the second half, start anew with decreasing so that the edge
has as gentle a form as possible. In our example that means for the front: cast off the
centre 10 stitches, then in every second row cast off 3 stitches (1x), 2 stitches (1x) 1
stitch (2x) and 0 stitch (1x). And for the back: cast off the centre 20 stitches, then
cast off 2 stitches (1x).
What now looks a bit like a stairway will become a flowing round neckline if you pick up
the stitches correctly.
Picking up stitches
Once you have joined the shoulder seams the stitches for the neck edge are picked
up using a short round needle. You should use a needle one size smaller than those used in
the basic pattern. Many tightly knitted stitches form a more elastic rib than a few loose
stitches.
Make sure that the number of the stitches picked up can be divided by the rapport of the
rib pattern. Don't start the rib pattern until the second row.
And this is how it goes
Start picking up the stitches at the shoulder seam.
At the small straight piece before the round and when only one stitch is cast off, pick up
and knit the thread lying between the edge stitch and the first stitch. If at least two
stitches have been cast off, a stitch is picked up from every stitch and knitted. To make
sure you get a neat edge it's important not to pick up stitches from the cast-off
stitches, but from the whole stitches below. This way the little steps are balanced out
and the stitches to be picked up are equally distributed over the two rows available. In
our example 12 stitches are picked up in a row next to one another. The two extra stitches
are edge stitches which also belong to the neckline.
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| The cross threads are marked with a dot, the stitches with a V. |
After picking up only a few stitches you can see how nice
and round the neckline will be. |
Another tip
If the edge between your knitting and the rib border seems to untidy to begin
with, simply work the first round in purl and then start the rib pattern. This way the
edge is less visible. However, with a bit of practice this will no longer be necessary.
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