Picking up stitches is the job that turns two shoulder seams and a hole into a finished neckline. It is also where a lot of first sweaters go wrong. Pick up too many and the band ruffles. Pick up too few and it drags the neck in like a drawstring.
This walkthrough follows a West Yorkshire Spinners lesson taught by Chloe Elizabeth Birch. She works a small sample neckline in super chunky cream yarn with a mustard contrast, so every new loop is easy to see: down the left curve, across the held center stitches, then back up the right.
Know your cast on and your purl stitch before you start, since the band itself is usually rib. Once it is the depth you want, bind off loosely and weave in the tail you left hanging at the shoulder.
Why 3 stitches for every 4 rows
Knitted stitches are wider than they are tall. A typical worsted fabric runs about 5 stitches and 7 rows to the inch. Pick up one stitch per row along a side edge and you jam 7 stitches into an inch that wants 5. The band flares. Three for four lands close to that real ratio, and rib pulls in the small difference. Your pattern gives the exact count, and reading the pattern closely here saves a lot of ripping back.
Three kinds of edge
| Edge | Where you see it | Rate |
|---|
| Vertical | Button bands, cardigan fronts, the side of a thumb gap | 3 for every 4 rows |
| Horizontal bound-off | Back neck, the top of a pocket | 1 for every stitch |
| Curve | Front neck, armholes | Mix: 1 for 1 on the stepped bound-off parts, 3 for 4 on the sloped parts |
On a curve, the shaping is a stack of small steps. Treat each flat step like a bound-off edge and each slope like a vertical one.
"Pick up" vs "pick up and knit"
Modern patterns use both phrases for the same move: needle through the fabric, yarn wrapped, loop pulled through, a new live stitch on the needle. An older pattern that says "pick up" and then "knit one row" means the same thing with an extra row. Picking up with a crochet hook and sliding the loops onto the needle is also fine if the needle tip keeps splitting the yarn.
Spacing the count evenly
Divide the edge into quarters before you start and clip a locking marker at each quarter. If the pattern wants 40 stitches down a curve, that is 10 per section. You find out you are off after a quarter of the edge, not at the end, and the error never piles up in one spot.
No holes at the corners
The gap shows up where the curve meets the held center stitches, and again at the shoulder seam. Pick up one extra stitch in the strand that bridges each corner. On the next round, knit it together with its neighbour to get the count back. The corner closes and the count stays right.
Fixing a band that ruffles or pulls in
- Ruffles or flares: too many stitches. Rip back the band, which takes a minute, and pick up again with more skips.
- Pulls in or puckers the body: too few. Add stitches on the slopes, not on the flat center.
- Tight bind-off: the neck will not go over a head. Bind off with a needle two sizes larger.
- A ridge on the front: you worked with the wrong side facing. Start again from the right side.
The same move closes the thumb gap on fingerless gloves, so it is worth practising on a scrap before a sweater.
