Neck Edging
Once I had finished the front I realised that the neck was really bigger than I wanted. Fortunately this is an easy fix with neck edging. To give the sweater a more cohesive look when it’s finished I decided to use the final colour of the sweater. That way once when it’s finished all edges will be ‘anchored’ with the same colour. It’s likely I’ll have more of this colour left at the end as well so this makes it a good option for edging.
There are a few different techniques I used to get the neck size that I wanted:
- I dropped down a needle size, using a 3.5mm needle instead of 4mm.
- I used the thicker yarn combination, the final fade main colour combined with the textured colour.
- I picked up slightly less stitches.
- I bound off snugly to hold the shape.
Working the Neck
Using the final fade colour held with the texture yarn I started at the back right of the neck, and instead of picking up one stitch for every cast-on stitch I picked up around 4 for every 5. This was the first step to tightening it up. When I worked down the slope at the sides I made this 3 for every 4 rows. Now I joined in the round and on the next round I decreased any stitches necessary to give me a multiple of 4 so that I could work a 2 x 2 ribbing (2 knit stitches and 2 purl stitches).
Now I just worked the ribbing in the round until I got the the depth I wanted. I left it at around 1.5″ (4 cm) and then I bound all the stitches off fairly snuggly. This still gave me a fairly open neck but it’s not huge any more and it’s got a nice firmness and stability.
Working The Body
Once the Neck was finished I went on to the body. This is nice and easy to work; I start by working all the front stitches, then working the back stitches, finally I placed a marker and joined it in the round. I kept going with my fade and texture combinations with the only difference now that all rounds are knit and I’m no longer working flat in rows. When I was combining two colours in the ‘fade’ section I used the Helical Stripes technique.
I plan on finishing the body with the same yarn combination I used for the neck in ribbing. However I will stay with the larger needles I think. You’ll have to tune in for the next installment to see if I change my mind when I reach that point!
You can find all the past Stash Dive blog posts here. If you’re knitting along make sure you tag us #CarolFellerStashKAL so I can find you!
Is there a structure reason to use 2*2 ribbing, or is it a design preference? Does it hold the neck opening better?
For a neck opening you want a stitch pattern that ‘draws in’ so that the neck fits snuggle. Most ribbing patterns do this well. While garter or moss stitch prevent the edge from rolling they don’t help to draw the edge in making it snug which is what we want in this case. To make those draw in you’d have to work decreases as well.
Morning Carol,
I am so glad you are back. It’s my first time being part of a stash-dive community
project and I am enjoying it immensely (even my husband asks me how is it coming
along😊), but I was concerned that you might not get back to finish it (the hardest
part). Sleeves!
Nuala.
As I worked happily on th first sleeve, I realized when I tried it on that the body is too wide and looks a bit sloppy.
I plan to rip back up to the armholes and redo the whole body. How should I decrease it to the width I want? Shall I decrese quickly from 2 sides under the arms, in the first raws, until I reach the desired size, and then work straight to the bottom?
Thanks! I enjoy this work so much, with all the surprises along the way.
A few at the underarm and maybe the rest slowly?
If you keep the sleeves snug it does work better!