Round necks

When working a neck band on a sweater with a round neck, join one shoulder seam, work the band and then join the seam of the band and the second shoulder.

The right shoulder is joined first for women’s knitwear and the left for men’s knitwear, because you may want to have a button opening at the side of the neck, and the correct position is the left side for a woman and the right side for a man. It is part of that whole thing about buttons being positioned on the right side or the left, not just with knitwear, but all clothing.

If you have shoulder openings on both sides, the front and back of the neck band are worked in two separate pieces.
To knit a neck with no seams or openings, use double pointed needles in the appropriate size and join both shoulder seams before working the band.

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A round neck has three different edges. Stitches are picked up along the edge of rows at the side of the neck, stitch for stitch at the front and back of the neck, and along the edge of shaping rows [pic 6].

6: This half of a round neck shows the three kinds of shaping on a round neck sweater. The stitches on the front of the neck have been cast off and those on the back of the neck are on a stitch holder.

Unless stated otherwise in the pattern, pick up stitches around the neck with the right side facing so that you can see what you are doing. Stitches are picked up between the first and second stitches from the edge on the side of rows [pic 7].

7: All stitches on the side of the rows are picked up along the ladder formed by the connecting threads between the first and second stitches of a row.

Too many stitches will make a loose or floppy neck band, too few stitches will pull in and distort the shape [pic 8].

8: The lines of stitches that form the fabric around the area of the neck are pulled out of shape because the neck band is too tight.

If the needle size used for the bands is the same as that used for the body of the garment, pick up three stitches for every four rows along each side of the neck. Miss every fourth row at the side of the neck as this is a right angle and the neck band should sit flat at each side [pic 9].

9: Pick up three stitches to every four rows on right angle edges at the side of the neck.

Pick up stitch for stitch along a horizontal line of stitches, either cast-on, cast-off or on stitch holders, because this section has to have the same number of stitches to sit flat [pic 10].

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