How to Pick Up Stitches Knitting a Neckband

Lay the piece flat with the right side facing you. A neckline is three sections: a curved edge running down from the left shoulder, a straight run of center stitches parked on a holder, and a second curve back up to the right shoulder.

You work them in that order. The two curves get picked up. The center stitches are already live, so they get knitted straight off the holder when you reach them.

Start at the left shoulder seam. Put a finger on the edge one whole stitch in from the very end, not on the edge stitch itself. That one stitch of fabric is what hides the join.

Working right at the edge leaves a loose, gappy line that shows from the front. One stitch in gives the new loops something solid to sit in, and the edge stitch rolls under on its own.

Push the needle tip through the fabric one stitch in from the edge, front to back. Take your working yarn and lay it over the needle, leaving about 8 inches of tail loose so you have something to sew in later.

Hold that yarn taut with your other hand and draw the loop back through to the front. That is one stitch on the needle. Keep the tension firm as you pull or the loop comes out baggy.

Move down one hole and repeat: needle through, yarn over the needle, pull the loop out. Same distance in from the edge every time, so the line of new stitches runs dead straight down the fabric.

Do not rush the spacing. A wandering pick-up line is the thing you notice from across the room, more than any single wonky stitch.

Stop and count. Your pattern asks for a set number of stitches down this curve, and it will be fewer than the number of rows you are working along. That is on purpose.

A knit row is shorter than a stitch is wide, so matching one stitch to one row crams too much fabric into the band and it ruffles. Pick up 3 stitches for every 4 rows: work three holes, skip the fourth, repeat. Spread the skips out rather than bunching them.

You have reached the center. Open the stitch holder and slide those live stitches onto a spare needle, one at a time, in the order they come off it.

Watch which way round they sit. A stitch that flips as it leaves the holder ends up twisted, and one twisted stitch in the middle of a neckband is obvious the moment the garment goes on.

With a needle in each hand, knit across the center stitches using the same working yarn you have been picking up with. These stitches are already live, so they are knitted, not picked up.

When the last one has come off the spare needle, set that needle down. Everything sits on one needle now, and you carry on with a single needle for the second curve.

Turn to the second curve and work up it rather than down, going into the row above the one you used last each time. Stay one stitch in from the edge, right through the shaped decreases at the top.

Skip a row now and then on this side too, the same 3 in 4 rhythm, so both curves finish with the same count. You end at the right shoulder seam where you started.