Almost done! - need help understand directions!

Thank you for everyone’s help on my previous post! I’m in the final steps of finishing my first sweater! I’m so excited! The second half went WAY easier than the first half.

Okay so now I’m doing the neck edging but I’m confused on what the pattern is saying.

I picked up the 12 stitches, but do I need to knit them? A row of them? I’m also confused as to where to go next. I’ve also attached a photo of the first 12 picked up stitches on my needle. All I’ve done so far is pick them up…

I went ahead and picked up the 12 stitches and then knitted them one time. Now my needle is facing the opposite way that I started. Am I going to continue to pick up the 31 stitches? If I knit those after picking up, my needle will be facing back at the original 12…

Hello
You will need to go back a bit and rework this neck but there we’re no live stitches which makes taking the neck edge apart “safe”.

The pick up and knit of these 4 different numbers of stitches all happen on one row.
To “pick up an knit” you work a knit stitch into the fabric, so your working yarn will be joined to the first stitch (leave a tail to weave in later) and will be used to work into each new stitch all the way across so that when you turn it is joined like a normal end of row and ready to work back.

The different numbers are to ensure the correct distribution of stitches around the neck.

There must be an error here as it mentions the right side of the neck twice and has omitted the left side. Most necks begin at the left (as you wear it) shoulder and work across the front to the right shoulder and across the back to the opening where the left shoulder will be seamed. If you look at the finishing instruction it has the left shoulder seamed later whih confirms the first part of this neck pick up should be LEFT front neck.
I don’t know your size but begin on the left front and pick up AND knit 12 sts evenly spaced.
Then continue to pick up and knit across the front neck, the right front, the back. All one row.
Turn and work back on the wrong side, knit.
Turn, Bind off knit wise.

I would then test the firmness and stretch of the neck to see if I liked it. You might prefer the bind off in a larger needle for instance to give a bit more stretch and these couple of rows are relatively easy to undo and reknit.

Hope this helps

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Okayyyyy, I think I get it! So, there’s definitely an error. Basically, I’m just starting on the left side and going all the way around the neck?

I don’t know why it divided the stitches like that :roll_eyes:. But okay, so I would pick up and knit to attach them to the neck and then the last direction is knitting the full row all around the neck?

Okay, I’ll pull those 12 stitches out and start again. Thank you!

The division of stitches into different numbers in each section is quite common, it helps to make sure you get the correct distribution around the neck.
So, yes it is right across, or all the way around the neck, on one go.
There will be a reason for the 12, 26 (small size), 12 across the front. You may have bound off 26 when you worked across that neck row and the 12 is to get up the shaped curve each side. The back is 25 (small) and will relate to the stitch count there being one stitch different to the front.
It may seem strange but if it didn’t say how many to pick up in each section it would be harder as the knitter would have to work it out.

To pick up and knit you insert your right needle into a stitch space, wrap with working yarn and draw the new stitch through, onto the right needle. You may not need your left needle at all whilst you work the first row. I just hold the fabric in my left hand and needle in right hand.

When you have all the new stitches that is one row done, turn and work across the wrong side, yes, a full row.

I personally find the tern “pick up and knit” confusing, because it sounds like you should do more than just pulling the yarn through the fabric. This, to me, seems like simply picking up stitches…unless there’s a technique where you just weave the needle through the fabric, without pulling new yarn through, and then you would knit a row?

Anyway, I always have to check to be sure that I understand what the pattern means by “pick up and knit”!

It is confusing, I agree. There is a distinction between “picking up” and “picking up and knitting” but often, patterns just say pick up x sts when they mean pick up and knit. There are a very few instances where you are to simply pick up sts by inserting the needle into fabric loops without using a strand of working yarn. You’re right to check to see if the next instructions help with the interpretation.

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