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The Afterthought Neckline: How My Mother Reshaped Her Knitting
Inside two sweaters her mother knitted, Hazel finds a mystery—and a method you can use to modify a garment even after it’s finished.
I have a number of Fair Isle garments knitted by my mother, and I’ve noticed that several had the neck shape made after the garment was knitted to the shoulder. As ever, we find the questions when the person who can answer them is no longer here, so I can’t say why she did it that way. Perhaps she was so engrossed in the knitting that she reached the shoulders before realizing she should have “slipped the neck,” or perhaps she couldn’t be bothered to think about it. Doing this for a high round neck makes some sense, but a deep V-neck will have required a lot of unnecessary knitting.
The earliest garment I have was knitted around 1953 by my mother for my brother. It has been repeatedly mended—no doubt all four of her children wore it. In this garment, when she reached the armhole opening, she didn’t use a steek. Maybe she didn’t know about that, even though she did know she could safely cut the knitting. (Ideas and practices took much longer to move around in pre-internet days.) Once she had put stitches for the underarm on hold, she worked on the front and back separately. She kept the right side of the knitting facing as she worked. To do that, she knotted together the two colors for a given row, knitted across, then broke the yarns before returning to the right edge and repeating. This method is known as “brak an eke.” She may have thought it easier to continue to the shoulders and deal with the neck shape afterwards.
Left: The V-neck sweater, viewed from the right side (according to Hazel this garment has had a hard life and is felted). Right: On the wrong side of the V-neck, you can see how the pattern that was on the right side continues where it was cut. The openings for the sleeves were steeked (not shown).
The sweater with the deep V-neck is more puzzling, as steeks were used at the arm opening, so I am not sure why the V-neck wasn’t also steeked. But looking at the wrong side, it is quite clear that the pattern continued and the V was shaped after the fact without any decreases.
How to Change a Neckline
Reshaping the necklines of these old sweaters is not very difficult. I prefer to use however many
I have a number of Fair Isle garments knitted by my mother, and I’ve noticed that several had the neck shape made after the garment was knitted to the shoulder. As ever, we find the questions when the person who can answer them is no longer here, so I can’t say why she did it that way. Perhaps she was so engrossed in the knitting that she reached the shoulders before realizing she should have “slipped the neck,” or perhaps she couldn’t be bothered to think about it. Doing this for a high round neck makes some sense, but a deep V-neck will have required a lot of unnecessary knitting.
The earliest garment I have was knitted around 1953 by my mother for my brother. It has been repeatedly mended—no doubt all four of her children wore it. In this garment, when she reached the armhole opening, she didn’t use a steek. Maybe she didn’t know about that, even though she did know she could safely cut the knitting. (Ideas and practices took much longer to move around in pre-internet days.) Once she had put stitches for the underarm on hold, she worked on the front and back separately. She kept the right side of the knitting facing as she worked. To do that, she knotted together the two colors for a given row, knitted across, then broke the yarns before returning to the right edge and repeating. This method is known as “brak an eke.” She may have thought it easier to continue to the shoulders and deal with the neck shape afterwards.
Left: The V-neck sweater, viewed from the right side (according to Hazel this garment has had a hard life and is felted). Right: On the wrong side of the V-neck, you can see how the pattern that was on the right side continues where it was cut. The openings for the sleeves were steeked (not shown).
The sweater with the deep V-neck is more puzzling, as steeks were used at the arm opening, so I am not sure why the V-neck wasn’t also steeked. But looking at the wrong side, it is quite clear that the pattern continued and the V was shaped after the fact without any decreases.
How to Change a Neckline
Reshaping the necklines of these old sweaters is not very difficult. I prefer to use however many[PAYWALL] steeks are necessary, but I have re-shaped a crewneck that was too tight. Here’s how:
Use a very thin needle to pass through one leg of each stitch to be used for the neck. It is easiest to decide which row will be the bottom of the neck and how wide the straight part of the neck will be. Colored threads at both ends of the neck bottom may help. Pick up one leg of each stitch for the lower part of the neck. For the curve toward the shoulder, you could mark the line with a contrasting color yarn, or just use your eye, to pick up one leg of a stitch for every row.
Top: Insert a thin needle under one leg of each stitch for the bottom of the neck, then continue for the curve toward the shoulder. Bottom: For this sweater, I picked up stitches until the new neckline intersected with the back of the neck.
Once you are happy with the new shape, with right side facing, starting at the left shoulder, knit the picked-up stitches. To complete the neck finishing, in this case 1/1 ribbing, make sure you change to a larger needle; usually this is the size used for the hem and cuffs. Once the neck has been knitted, trim the excess knitting of the original piece, leaving about half an inch. Slip-stitch the top of the ribbing to the wrong side, or leave it.
Why This Works with Wool
I was brought up wearing and knitting with Shetland wool and rarely use anything else. It’s lightweight and warm, and the fibers cling together, making it possible to cut a knitted piece without danger of unravelling. It also means it’s not necessary to weave in ends in Fair Isle knitting. Just make a secure knot and trim the ends; they will meld into the wrong side of the fabric. I’ve cut single-color and Fair Isle pieces without using a sewing machine, backstitch, or crochet to secure the cut edges. I often leave the cut edges of the steek untouched in Fair Isle knitting, but in single-color knitting I take more care and always slip-stitch to the wrong side.
Re-shaped armhole. Original decreases kept, then narrowed before going straight up to the shoulder top.
This method can be used for other types of yarn that don’t have the clinging quality of Shetland, but securing the fabric before cutting it is recommended. If in doubt, knit a small swatch, cut it on the bias, then pull the cut edges to see what happens. If it pulls apart, you will need to secure it—backstitching or using a sewing machine will work.
See Hazel demonstrate how she enlarges the neck of a Fair Isle jumper:
Watch Knitting: Enlarging Fair Isle jumper neck on YouTube.
