Neckband construction question

How-to Questions
1

Hello
I have done 3 neckbands in the last few weeks and it has led to me wondering how those necjbands and especialky high necks are made to sit out from the neck.
I’m not working a particular pattern, it’s a general question, but here is an example of the type of neckband I mean, rib, high up the neck but not clinging to the neck, instead it sits out from the neck.

The construction here and on other patterns doesn’t seem to have anything special or particular to make the neckband sit out from the neck but I see the base of the band pulling in fitting the yoke to neck transition quite snugly and then the neckband sits out. How?
If I knitted this the band would continue to pull inwards making it very snug on the neck, why does it not look this way on pattern photos I look at?

I made 3 folded neckbands.

  1. A high neckband, I had to undo and put a lot more stitches in the pick up (more than the pattern called for) because the rib pulled the neck in, i would have liked it even higher and more “sticking out from the neck” but if I knitted it longer it would just be snug up against my neck, the rib always pulling inwards. I am reasonably happy with my working of it but would like to know how I could have altered it to make it fit like in the pattern picture I had.
  2. The next was a basic crew neckband. The fit is fine, stretches out well to get over the head, pulls in and looks neat, but perhaps looks a bit more snug than necessary on the neck? Again quite hapoy with it but no idea how I could change it.
  3. Third one was a regular crew neck, double again. This one ended up so snug on the neck that it was uncomfortable . The rib did stretch out enough to go over the head, measurements were correct, but the ribbing especially with the folded rib made it feel constricting on the neck. This one I ripped out and made a single layer short rib followed by a rolled stockinette edge to try to flick the neck outwards, which does work.

I’ve looked at several patterns to see if something is done at the neckband to make it wider, sit out, less snug, somehow change the pull of the rib, but I see nothing special, just knit rib for x cm and bind off or knit rib for x cm fold.

Any thoughts most welcome.

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2

I suspect that the difference is in the neckline rather than the neckband itself. A deeper or possibly wider neckline will let the collar or band sit out from the neck. The drape of the yarn and gauge in the neckband will also contibute to the ability of the band to stand up on its own in a deeper neckline.

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3

In the pic of the pattern I linked, how does the rib start off by pulling near the bottom of the neck but by the top it’s pulling out?

One of the necks I made the width and all measurements were as the pattern but to produce a neckband that didn’t completely pull in I added a lot more stitches than the pattern said, I might have been better with even more but I’d had enough fiddling about by then. I can’t work out how the neckband sits up and out rather than continuing in.

4

It looks to me like the looseness of the neck is due to the depth of the neckline and the number of rows in the collar. I wouldn’t expect that length of collar to continue to tighten in on the neck without decreases. The number of sts in the collar is also a factor. You may well need to increase the stitch number as you did for more of a stand up collar.

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5

Ah, so a lower shaping on the front neck bind off maybe. I think I get it.
Thanks.

6

More stitches or a bigger needle should do it (or both?). It would still seem to pull in at the bottom because it has to be the size of the neckline, but would then start to relax and take up more room. I think. Haven’t tried it.

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