Beg with 63 sts. Work in St st until armhole measures 5½"/14cm; end with a WS row. Next row (RS) K25, join a 2nd ball of yarn and bind off center 13 sts, k to end. Working both sides at once, bind off 2 sts at each neck edge once, then dec 1 st each neck edge every other row 5 times—18 sts rem for each shoulder. Work even until piece measures 2½"/6.5cm above bound-off center sts. Bind of. Sew shoulder seams.

Beg with 63 sts. Work in St st until armhole measures 4"/10cm; end with a WS row. Next Row (RS) K20, join a 2nd ball of yarn and bind off center 23 sts, k to end. Working both sides at once, bind off 2 sts at each neck edge once—18 sts rem for each shoulder. Work even until piece measures 4"/10cm above bound-off center sts. Bind off. Sew shoulder seams.

In this article, I'll talk about a few of the neck shapes I feature in my newest "edge" book. The instructions are based on a worsted-weight yarn with a gauge of 18 stitches (sts) and 26 rows to 4" and a cross-back (shoulder-to-shoulder) measurement of 14", with the neck being 6" wide and in different neck depths. These are standard neck shapes onto which you can add most of the edgings shown in the book. It may be necessary to adjust the number of stitches in the neck to accommodate the stitch multiples of a particular pattern.

Altering the neck

The neck sizes listed above are standard but do not work for everyone. For instance, let's say your gauge is 4 stitches and 6 rows to 1" and you want the width of a V neck to be 7" and the depth to be 6". First, calculate the number of stitches in total for the neck; in this case 7" x 4 sts = 28 sts. Then, determine the number of rows for the neck drop: 6" x 6 rows = 36 rows. Assuming that your cross-back measurement remains 14", then 14" x 4 sts = 56 sts. Because your neck is an even number of stitches, you simply divide the work in half to continue the neck shaping; therefore work 28 stitches, join a second ball of yarn and work to end. Divide the number of neck stitches in half to determine how many neck decreases must be worked: 28 sts divided by 2 = 14 stitches to decrease 36 rows. It is best to have at least an inch worked even at the top of the neck before binding off for the shoulders, so take e6 rows from the 36 to equal 30 rows. Then divide 30 rows by 14 neck decreases, which equals 2.1428. In other words, if you decrease 1 stitch every second row 14 times, you will get 28 rows, which works our perfectly.

Fitting a neckline into a given neck edge

If you are using the neck shaping as given in the instructions and want to slot one of these necklines into it, you will have to determine how many stitches to pick up around the neck. If the pattern calls for a specific number of stitches, you may be able to use that number. However, if the collar needs to be particular repeat, such as 10 stitches, and the number of stitches to pick up is 96, then pick up this number and adjust the stitches on the first row. In this case, the closest multiple to 10 is 100 stitches, so you would need to increase 4 stitches evenly spaced on the first row to come up to 100 stitches. This holds true with cuffs and front borders as well. You may have to increase or decrease stitches from the original pattern to accommodate the repeat.

If the difference in stitches is much larger than 5 or 6 stitches because of a very large repeat, you may not want to adjust the number of stitches so dramatically, for it may distort the finished edge. Let's say the repeat is more than 20 stitches and the instructions calla for 110 stitches to be picked up. Adjusting the stitches by 10 either way may be too many or too few, so find the closest number to a full repeat, which would be 100, and divide the difference by 2; that is 5 stitches that can be worked each side as plain stitches.

How many stitches to pick up

Many times the instructions will tell you how many stitches to pick up around a neck or along a front edge. If they do not, or if you have changed the length or width measurement from the original, you will have to recalculate the number. It is easiest along a straight edge. With the garment lying flat, measure the edge, then multiply that measurement by the stitch gauge of the border (you may have to swatch the border pattern if you do not know the gauge). When working around a neck, it is harder to measure a curve. The rule of thumb for a curved neck is to pick up 1 stitch in every bound-off stitch and 3 stitches for every 4 rows (for a light- to medium-weight yarn) or 2 stitches for every 3 rows (for a worsted- to heavy-weight yarn). You can then adjusted the number of stitches after the picked-up row to accommodate the repeat of the stitch pattern.

Knitting On, Over and Beyond the Edge and Knitted Flowers (all from Sixth&Spring Books) are available online. For more about Nicky Epstein, visit nickyepstein.com.