Part 5: Front Neck Shaping

21 comments

1. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🎉👏🏻🎉✨⭐️✨❤️😃❤️👍🏻👍🏻🎉💐🎉💐💐

2. I decided to make a cardigan, with a zipper. Since I did not do the placket bind off, how many stitches do I bind off before I start the decreases. I have 24 stitches in the neck to work with. (I’m doing a size 2). Also, how did you decide on the number of decrease? I see you are BO and decreasing the total number of stitches of the back neck.
   I think I should BO 7 then decrease 6 times on each side.

3. I can’t advise you on the number of stitches because it’s based on your own gauge and the type of band you have allowed for. Do you have Sweater 101 the book? That gives the measurements for other sizes and gives you some guidance on making cardigans. When you make a zippered cardigan, the fronts meet without overlap so the size of “the gap” you leave depends on what kind of edge you are going to put there. Horizontal ribbing? I-cord? Narrow vertical rib with a slipped stitch edge? Your fronts should be narrower than 1/2 a pullover front to compensate for that band you are going to add. Some of the “front neck decreases” would already included in those missing stitches.

4. Hi Cheryl,

   Why can’t I start decreasing stitches instead of beginning to bind off two stitches for the collar? How can this affect the pattern?

5. Hi Carmen. You can, of course start decreasing right away but you will not have bound off as many as you need for the front of neck. You’re welcome to try it but you will reshape the neck curve and you may run out of rows before you finish getting rid of all the front neck stitches so that you you match the number of stitches in the shoulder seams. But I always encourage experimentation. You might go back to the video and see the rationale for the number of front-of-neck bound off sts.

6. This was a very fun segment! I loved the “blast from the past”, also, you have a lovely singing voice. 💕

7. Thank you! I forget that I sang. I’ve made so many videos over the years I can’t remember what’s in them. 😀

8. Hi Cheryl,
   I am now at the point where I BO for the neck shaping. In the video, you say to start the BO on a Knit row. Is it OK to start on a purl Row? I just happen to end on a knit row at the required measurement to start the neck edge BO. All my decreases would then be on a purl row if I understand your instruction correctly. I could still do my decreases on a knit row, but I would have to start the decreases on the following knit row. I hope I am explaining this so it make sense to you.
   Thanks so much!
   Sue

9. Yes Sue. It’s fine to start your decreases on a purl row. I just had people stop on a knit row in the video because many people who take the course are complete novices and would find it difficult to translate the shaping to come from the “wrong” or non-public side. As for the types of decreases you use, it’s up to you but remember to keep them mirror images of one another on opposite sides.

10. Hi Cheryl,
    I was wondering why the 2 bind offs at placket edges. I was doing the math in my head and I computed 7 stitches decreasing each side. It comes out the same amount that you showed, but I am curious about the theory behind that 2 stitch bind off. Is that just for the sample sweater that you are showing? I am not a pattern type person so this validates my thoughts on how to make my own. I appreciate your expertise and will follow through to the end. Thanks

11. Hi. I’m not sure I understand the math or the why of the neck shaping. I’m just going to run through what I’m thinking and perhaps let me know if I “got” it. My gauge is 5.5 sts/inch. So i calculated the neck part to be 25 sts. The placate part is 7 sts long. So 25 – 7 leaves me with 18 sts to figure out bo and decreasing. Evenly its 9 sts on each side. But because I want (need?) A bind off to start the neck… I will bind off 2 on each side. Which leaves 7 sts to decrease per side? Is there a math equation to figure out the amount of rows it takes to decrease these sts or do I just do it every other row?

12. Hi Bernadette. First of all, this is based on my own gauge for this particular sweater. The logic is this: if I were making a simple crew neck sweater, the front bind-off would be roughly 1/2 the sts of the back of neck, in this case, 10 sts total for me (I think. I haven’t looked at this in a while). 6 sts went into the placket, that leaves 4 more to bind off before I started the decreases, 2 on each side. I could have shaped the neck differently but wanted to make this the simplest way possible.

13. Hi Carina. Sorry I didn’t catch this earlier. You just do it every other row but at this gauge I would probably bind off 3 sts at each side of the placket opening so you’d only have 6 EOR decreases. If you don’t have enough rows left to do that you can bind off 2 sts at each side in place of the first decreases.

14. Binding off at the neck confused me. I couldn’t bind off at the end of the row because it left a stitch on the needle after the bind-offs. In other words it took me 2 rows to bind off the initial stitches for the crew neck. Is that correct?

15. Right. You can almost never bind off at the end of a row, though I saw a super clever technique recently that I’ve already lost and will try to find.

16. Hi Cheryl, the sts. for the neck measure 15 sts. the placket bind off was 5 sts. When i get to shaping the neck, I can either start decreasing every other row for 5 rows each side which will give me my 15sts. ? The other way I thought would be to bind of 1 st each side, which would be 3 +1+1bind of each side = 5. then decrease every other row for 5 rows each side . Which gives me 5 +5 +3+ 1 +1 = 15 ? Also is there a reason it is decrease every other row for 5 rows, is that the directions given in the patterns . Thank you for your help

17. Hi Cheryl, I was a bit confused with the decreases everyother row for 5 X’s . Is the goal to decreases on each side minus the number of stitches for the placket to equal the neck stitches from the back . I could only bind off 1 st. each side before my EOR decreases. As it worked out because of gauge decrease 1 st. everyother row for 4 rows each side. Again I really am enjoying this class .Thank you.

18. Yes. That is the goal. You should have the same number of shoulder sts on each side of the back and front. Sometimes your gauge makes it hard for you to fit in the EOR decreases. In that case I usually just add a few more sts to the center front.

19. Yes to your first question. Your second question . . . that’s an alternative way to shape the front but you might not have enough rows to complete all the decreases you need.

20. Hi Cheryl,

    The blast from the past was great. I remember wearing that sort of hair, OMG. And thanks for singing for us.
    I appreciate your straight forward delight in making and explaining. You do encourage bravery and confidence that we can do it, and can understand what we’re doing!

21. Oh dear Candlin. Are you saying my hairdo is old-fashioned? Just because I wore a slightly longer version of the same one in high school (graduated in 1965)? My only excuse is that I’m hair-impaired. I have to have a good cut and I just wash it and dry it. I often let it grow until it’s wonky and have to call my hairdresser in a panic begging for an emergency cut. We all have our skill sets. Hair is not one of mine.

    I’m so glad I’m able to inspire confidence and understanding for you in your knitting. It’s just sticks and string and it’s almost impossible to make a mistake that you can’t erase by ripping out. I’ve been known to say that the difference between a professional and amateur knitter is that the professional has ripped out more stitches than the amateur has knit. 😀

    Thank you for this kind comment.