Knitting the collar on a bathrobe

How-to Questions
1

so, i am making the bathrobe from sexy little knits and have successfully knit all of my pieces and seamed them together. so far all stitches have been bound off (no live stitches)… now, i’m trying to knit the collar. (see picture below).

[I][U]the instructions:[/U]
garter stitch collar: with RS facing pick up 2 stitches at beginning of right front neck edge.

increase row 1 (rs): knit stitches on needle to end , pick up stitch from neck edge.

row 2: knit all stitches

repeat 1 and 2 until there are 26 stitches.

next row (RS): knit to end, pick up 1 stitch from neck edge - 27stitches

next row (ws): slip 1 (picked up stitch), knit 1, pass slipped stitch over, knit to end --26 stitches

continue working last 2 rows until there is 5 1/4" remaining to beginning of front neck edge. Work decrease row as follows:

decrease row 1 (RS): knit stitches to end, pick up stitch from neck edge.

row 2 (ws): slip 1, knit 2 tog, pass slipped stitch over, knit to end. continue until 2 stitches remain. bind off sew the remaining stitches neatly to neck edge.

work 1 row of single crochet around edge of collar.
[/I]
my questions:
I don’t understand the placement of things - first off, where is “beginning of right front neck edge”? - is that at the top of the shoulder at the seam where the front meets the back? (my intuition says, no.) or is it lower on the right front (in the chest area) and if so, how much lower? (on the front panel pieces, there is a section where it decreases at it nears the top, maybe it is where those decreases start?)

similarly, after you get going, it says [I]“continue working last 2 rows until there is 5 1/4” remaining to beginning of front neck edge."[/I] where is the ‘beginning of the front neck edge’? left? right? what is the front?

help!

2

I would pick up the 2 stitches at the point where you started your neck shaping myself,

3

i reckon the beginning of front neck needs to be in line with where you started , ie picked up the 2 stitches to start? my reading of it is that you have the garment right side out and facing you, then you knit the collar attaching it to the main body by picking up stitches from the main bit as you go?

hope that helps, but maybe wait till the gurus are up and about for the day!!

4

hmmm…so, pick up the stitches at the neck shaping? meaning on the front panel where the decreases start (near the chest area)?

5

i think so, yes, goodlock, sorry if i’ve confused you more!!

6

so, i’m still struggling with this pattern. I’ve divided up the instructions into 3 main sections (and i’m guessing here trying to make sense of this thing).

[COLOR=Red]section 1[/COLOR] - knit from right front neck edge (middle of the chest area) up towards the neck*. picking up stitches/increasing as you go up towards the neck.
*assumption - the length will be 5 1/4 inches

[COLOR=Red]section 2 [/COLOR]- knitting around the back of the neck area. making decreases (?)

[COLOR=Red]section 3[/COLOR] - knitting from the neck down the left front side (picking up stitches as you go down - and decreasing at the same time). the length will be 5 1/4 inches and identical to section 1 - making the left and right sides symmetrical.

does this even work?? help!
[I][U]
the instructions from the book ([COLOR=Red]anything in red is what i’ve added[/COLOR]):
[/U]
[COLOR=Red]section 1[/COLOR]
garter stitch collar: with RS facing pick up 2 stitches at beginning of right front neck edge.

increase row 1 (rs): knit stitches on needle to end , pick up stitch from neck edge.

row 2: knit all stitches

repeat 1 and 2 until there are 26 stitches.

[COLOR=Red]section 2[/COLOR]
next row (RS): knit to end, pick up 1 stitch from neck edge - 27stitches

next row (ws): slip 1 (picked up stitch), knit 1, pass slipped stitch over, knit to end --26 stitches

continue working last 2 rows until there is 5 1/4" remaining to beginning of front neck edge.

[COLOR=Red]section 3[/COLOR]
Work decrease row as follows:

decrease row 1 (RS): knit stitches to end, pick up stitch from neck edge.

row 2 (ws): slip 1, knit 2 tog, pass slipped stitch over, knit to end. continue until 2 stitches remain. bind off sew the remaining stitches neatly to neck edge.

work 1 row of single crochet around edge of collar.[/I]