Knitting neck border

Hi all,

I’m knitting my first round necked jumper and I’m rapidly approaching having to knit the neck border. I’ve done the front and back, both of which have some central stitches on stitch holders. Does anyone have any advice on how best to tackle doing this? Perhaps someone has a favourite video that shows how it’s done?

Many thanks!!

Hello
I don’t have a fav video but I like to slip the stitches which are on hold onto a spare needle, a smaller needle than the one I’m knitting with as I’m not comfortable kniting off a holder.
I look at how many stitches need picking up in each section and decide where I’m going to do those before I begin so that I pick up relatively evenly and if there are a lot to pick up I might place a marker or two in the section to remind me I need to pick up so many before the marker and so many after. And I like to focus a stitch each side of the shoulder, or 1 right in the central shoulder to bridge any gap which could be there.
I sometimes put a life line of embroidery thread in the held stitches before starting and that way, if I don’t like the pick up, or the size of the finished neck, it is easier to rip it out and know my live stitches are safe.
I saw a video once where the tip was to pick up in every stitch around the neck and reduce the number to the correct stitch count on the next row. This gave a nice pick up on one particular neckband I made but I later decided it wasn’t always suitable, even so it was a good tip, now if I feel I need an extra stitch on the pick up to close a gap or look neat I feel confident to do so and then work 2 together in that place on the next row. It can prevent holes and gaps nicely.

I’m sure other people will have their own tips and tricks too.

This is a helpful video. In the video the center sts are bound off but in your case it’s even easier. You can knit across those sts and then continue picking up on the other shoulder.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV5UQ-W8WMQ
Some patterns tell you how many sts to pick up in each section but there are others that just give a total number of sts for the neckband. In the latter case you can fold the neckband in half (regardless of seams) and mark the halves. Then fold again to divide the neck into quarters. Pick up about 1/4 the total number of sts in each section.
What is the name of your pattern and designer?

Ok! I’m now about start the neck and the instructions say to join the right shoulder seam and then so start picking up stitches from the left side of the neck and work round to the back, effectively making one long neck band that you then join on the left side when making up the jumper.

The first set of line says to pick up 14 stitches down the left side of the neck but try as I might I can only see the opportunity to pick up 12 before I get to the stitches in the middle section on the stitch holder. Is this usual and will it make a difference if I only pick up 12 rather than 14. The pattern asks for a specific number of stitches at the end of the row which I will be short of!

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Yes it does make a difference as the pattern will have worked out how many it takes to work the rib pattern correctly and the size of the neckband to be big enough (if you reduce by 2 here youll need to reduce by 2 on the other side of the neck for symmetry and those stitches add up to being cm and fhe neck could be too tight). It is possible to change the rib pattern but would need to be done in a controlled way so the stitch count remains even and the ribbing works. Probably better to try to fit the 14 in. 1 needs to go right in the edge as this will be where the seam goes, you could also put 1 between 2 stitches. Another option is to pick up 12 or 13 and increase to 14 on the next row… but for this you need to make sure to set up your rib pattern correctly accounting for the inc stitch.

What is the name of your pattern and designer?
If your row gauge differs from the pattern gauge you may have the correct length in inches but a differest number of rows. That can make picking up sts by rows differ from the pattern number.
It may also be that you can use a size larger needle to pick up sts around the neck and still keep the neckband loose enough to be comfortable. Knowing the pattern and designer will help us.

Hi guys, apologies for the delay in getting back to you but I’ve been a bit tied up with work :frowning:

I think I’ve figured it out, if I pick up into the back of every other stitch (picking up two stitches from one) I can get fourteen stitches in. Sometimes figuring patterns out is like solving logic puzzles!!

This is the pattern that I’m working from:

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Excellent! It’s a very good-looking sweater. Enjoy finishing.