I visited a friend a few weeks back and she was telling me she was wearing her favorite sweater. It was lovely, soft and had a very attractive motif. But I could not help but notice that the neck line was extended and wide. This was not really a design decision by more likely a function of the math used to fit the featured knitting motif onto the sweater. It got me… the fit of the neck distracted me from the entire overview of the garment. I honestly could not tell you what it looked like now, other than the neck line seemed ill designed.

It’s lead me on a goose chase of sorts, and I have experimented with a few cast on projects on ways to modify for a good solid fit that will prevent your sweaters from sagging, growing, exposing too much skin and so on. Resource I have found is here: https://onewilddesigns.com/blogs/articles/add-neck-shaping-to-your-raglan-with-short-rows

This One Wild Design article is directly speaking to the issues we see with neck line fit when there is a lack of shaping in raglan sweaters. Upon review the primary take away is that short rows are the answer. Short rows are used to shape the neck of the sweater. Many designers refer to this is raising the back of the neck. Which is one way to look at the problem but might not be the most accurate description of the “building” of fabric that is actually going on. In Yokes, short rows are more accurately shaping the neck placement in the garment. When you pick up a sweater at the shoulders or even lay it flat, it is most comfortable when the neck of the garment has some drop forward. This is in line with the way our necks extend from our body in a frontward orientation and not drawn straight up out of our shoulders. We have curves and shapes to accommodate for. And while this article and accompanying worksheet is dealing with raglan patterns it provides great markers to look for in your next top down circular yoke pattern as well. How many short rows were put into the garments upper back? How does that relate to the row gauge? How much drop can you expect? Also, do the short rows extend far enough forward for your taste? Looking at all this information in relation to your shoulder shape will give you some great tools to modify your next garment for the best possible fit.

What if your sweater is already finished and you don’t like the neckline? Did you know you can cut it off? If you have available yarn, and even if the garment was knit from the top down, it would be perfectly fine to run a circular needle into the fabric below the neck band. Once all the stitches are secure use some share scissors to cut above the picked up row, and pull out the rows above.

Establish where the center back of the garment is and work short rows that extend a minimum of 60% around the sweater leaving the unworked 40% ( or your desired percentage of neck stitches) unworked any the center front. Work short rows for the desired amount of drop you would like.

With a little review of the pattern and checking your stitch count for accuracy you will be able to determine if you need to work some decreases ( which would have been written as increases from the top down)

IE : cast on 100sts, work 5 rounds in k1p1 ribs. Next round k2 yo around.

If you picked up after that increase round in order to change the neck of your sweater, you will need to decrease back down to 100 sts. At this point try on your sweater and see if you are happy with the fit leaving your knitting needle in place. It would not be wrong to decrease further if you want a higher neckline, keeping whatever neck band finishing you have in mind as part of the equation.

once to you like the neck, work your band and bind off keeping elasticity in mind. A bind off is often firmer than a cast on and can help add structure to your neckline as

So there you go! Now you have a rough notion on how to modify a neckline, an idea of how I would change a neckline if I wanted a different shape and a new resource to get you thinking on fit. I hope you will comment below and continue this discussion on necklines and fit! I would love to hear your thoughts and favorite resources.