Finished sweater - how do I enlarge the neck?!

[JazzyBunny]

Hello all,

I finished making my first baby sweater but, now that the baby is here, I realize the neck is WAY too small. The yarn is very slick (it's Knitpicks Shine Worsted weight if you're familiar) so I'm reluctant to sew seams on the shoulder and cut it, but I think this is the only way because I already did the collar. Any suggestions on how to do this? I did it to a dog sweater I made once. It didn't look very nice in the end... but it was for a dog and it ended up on the dog's tummy so nobody minded much  Being a baby sweater I would like it to look nice. I'm a pretty experienced knitter, but a very inexperienced seamstress.

thanks!!

[Riki]

My suggestion would be - and you won't like this! - take the collar out and then take out a few rows then finish it off. It really wouldn't take that long and I think you'll be happier with the finished product.

OR, you could conceivably sew it up the middle several times to make sure it holds (slippery yarn such as cotton is really iffy on this)  (I don't know what pattern you used) to reinforce it, then steek and add a band to finish it off nicely.

[JazzyBunny]

Yes, I'd really rather not take apart the neck, etc... but will consider it.

Can someone explain what is meant by this option please?:

OR, you could conceivably sew it up the middle several times to make sure it holds then steek and add a band to finish it off nicely.

thank you!

[Annchen]

Steeking is when you machine sew and then cut a knitted item. like this.

[JazzyBunny]

Thank you! Just one last detail please. Since I'm not attaching the steeked edge to anything later (like an arm of a sweater in the example) how do I cover up the ugly edge where the knitting has frayed to where the machine stitching is?
Thanks again!

[JazzyBunny]

Nevermind. I decided to suck it up, take the neck out and rework it and I'm almost done. Should have done this from the start... 

[Riki]

Good on ya! That is the best way to go about it ... and it will give you more practice! I remember the days when I would say 'never mind' but I'm happy to report that now I do a LOT of ripping out (even after 50 years of knitting!) in order to get it just right.

[Riki]

Thank you! Just one last detail please. Since I'm not attaching the steeked edge to anything later (like an arm of a sweater in the example) how do I cover up the ugly edge where the knitting has frayed to where the machine stitching is?
Thanks again!

Forgot to answer this: for the raw edge, you pick up stitches along the edge and knit a border - either a k1p1 ribbing, or something else, up to you. I'm doing that now with one sweater I steeked (and cringed while doing so - I was a steeking virgin!) and i'm doing a plain band of st stitch with one row of purl to make it fold over into a hem that I will then hand-sew down to reinforced where I cut.