I made this little cardigan for my daughter while we were on the epic cross-country drive this summer. I love the edging (although I should have reduced stitches in the edging so it didn't bell around the cuffs and hem).
One thing I didn't love was the fit. It was sloppy at the neckline, always looking too loose and threatening to fall off her shoulders. She could hardly wear it unbuttoned, which is, of course, how she wanted to wear it most of the time!
So then I was at knitting group and someone was mentioning about those silly hoodie patterns that don't bind off at the neck and then don't have any structure at the neckline and you end up "looking like a cone head". And it dawned on me that the edge treatment I'd done added no structure to the neckline at all (it's folded and the live stitches sewn gently down).
A few weeks later, I took out my blunt needle and a length of the yarn and put a line of tight (really tight!) backstitching into the inside of the neck. (Normal recommendation is to do a line of single crochet, but I thought that would be too bulky.) For good measure, I kind of squinched down the ends of the edging at the front opening, because they stuck too far above the last button for my liking.
Finally, I switched out the buttons (for the third set on this sweater so far!) with some adorable owls that someone put in my Christmas stocking.
So much better now. A sweater I really like, instead of a sweater I'm slightly disappointed in. Sometimes it takes a few tries! (A better photo would be nice, but you can't have everything.)
