Neckband Fix

Yes, the neck openings for the Any Gauge Raglans are BIG. That was the answer for my internet friend who has started on her raglan pullover and was just checking in to make sure she was doing OK. Thanks for the question. You’re on the right track. Later, the neckband is going to make the opening much smaller.

If you cast on loosely, like I do, the neck opening is going to seem very wide. It might even stretch wider as you knit down the yoke. I made the neck opening large so that if you are winging it with your gauge it’s still going to work out. If your gauge is a little tighter than you thought or if you cast on tightly that’s no problem because the neck opening will still be a good size. If you knit loosely or cast on loosely, working the neckband with a decrease round is going to give you the neckband size you want.

Here is my current prototype for a V-neck Raglan with a very large neck opening. With my loose cast on the back of neck causes it to sit way past my bra straps but I proceeded with the yoke knitting anyway.

I suggested to my friend that she knit a couple of inches on the yoke and then with another ball of yarn pick up the stitches around the neck opening with a needle around 2 sizes smaller than the body-sized needle and work a decrease round as needed. So that’s what I did here even though I’m not finished knitting my sleeves.

Ahh, I think that’s a big improvement don’t you? It needs blocking but the neckband is good, around 7″ across the back of neck.

This is what I did.

I picked up a stitch for every cast on stitch all the way around the neck with a 3.25mm/US3 circular needle (body-size needle is 4.0mm/US6). Oops you might notice that the pick up needle is 3 needle sizes smaller. I knew I had to bring it in a lot. For this V-neck I worked a 1×1 rib up the front edge, worked a 20% decrease from the centre of one shoulder, across the back of neck to the centre of the other shoulder [K2tog, P1, K1, P1] repeat, and then worked the ribbing as usual to the end of the row. Work the ribbing as set for the desired depth of neckband and Cast Off, Done.

I’m excited to get this finished now I have the neckband done. It makes it seem so much closer to being finished even though I still have more sleeve knitting to do.

Thanks for reading,

Deb

Any Gauge Raglans on ravelry

Cabin Fever patterns on ravelry

Author: debgemmellmods

I'm a Knitter. The capital K means every day, everywhere. I'm co-owner of Cabin Fever with my sister Lyn. We have published over 100 patterns and 11 books. I'm also working on a new set of patterns for Any Gauge knitting. Dive into your stash and cast on for a Top Down sweater that fits, or an accessory to use up those odd balls of yarn. View all posts by debgemmellmods