If there is such a thing as Cake Hangover, I think I had it when I was working on the neckline of a cardigan I fondly call Wavy Bulb.

The night before, at KIP, we had 3! birthdays - Theresa, Carolyn and Mwah... And thanks to Mary and Heidi, we had 3 cakes! Now, we're not talking just any kind of cake, we're talking Letizia's Cake.

Cheescake. Triple Chocolate laced with wine Cake. Mimosa Cake.

I'm tingling just thinking about it.

BUT, the next morning my sugar and wine soaked brain failed to process the actual picture I took of my garment.

AND, that's one of the things I like most about blogging about knitting - it's a journal of your works in progress that doesn't lie! The next day, I could see in my picture that the neckline I was so relieved to have finished was just WRONG. The shape was an inelegant angled mess that did not deserve to be present on that beautiful, graceful garment...

It was TIME TO START BOSSING MY KNITTING AROUND!

The original pattern was for a pullover with a turtleneck. First of all, pullovers made from wool are out of the ChicKnits repetoire because they cannot be thermostatically controlled like a cardigan. Our North American residences and business are usually overheated and if I can't get some air in the mix, I've found I probably will rarely wear the garment.

So, a cardigan it became.

AND, the turtleneck had to go because it didn't amuse! This cardigan was going to be fresh and a little naughty and I envisioned it with a large portrait collar emanating from a rather low scoop neck...

YUM...

So, I set to shaping the neckline at a point determined by measurement and where a pattern repeat would make it easier.

Good solid logical thinking.

What I did not do properly was the Shaping. You can see how angled and sloppy the finished product is:

I could not just let this alone. I was playing with another sweater design - very different - but similar in the fact that it too, needed a scoop neck.

Well, my usual neck shaping is *Bind-off xx stitches at the neck edge, then DEC 1 st at the neck edge every other row...*

BLAH, Blah, blah...

A versatile, simple neckline to be sure, but like everything in the world, ONE SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL...

I needed a curved neck that had a gentle slope.

I needed ART!

What do you get when you cross Fashion Training with Engineering? Why, a desperate need to solve the puzzle.

And I had the tools, I just didn't know it.

After undergrad, I went Post-al and studied Graphic Design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

And, as I considered the distorted wavy neckline, I remembered I knew how to draw curves in Freehand (from Macromedia) and Illustrator (from Adobe)...

So out comes the computer ready Knitting Graph Paper (thanks SO MUCH to the folks at Brown Fox Handspuns!).

On goes an actual stitch count / row count of the front piece, with the selected dimensions I chose for the shoulder width, armhole depth and my shaping and the neckline drop.

I also added red lines every 10 boxes vertically and horizontally.

Now it got very exciting for me because I realized it was going to be a game of connect the dots !

I drew a curve with the pen tool, that went from about 2" in from the front edge to the interior shoulder edge.

The ~2" was going to be the initial flat center of the neckline.

Then it would curve up to the shoulder.

Making my curve, I tried to hit the edges of the graph paper boxes to form a nice graduation. I didn't want it to be too extreme or angled.

With the curve in place , now all I had to do was draw my stitches along its shape.

I made another line going across then up, across then up, hitting the curve wherever it intersected with a box edge.

You can see, from right to left:

• Bind-off 12 sts at Row 30
• Work one row.
• Bind-off 3 sts once.
• Work one row.
• Bind-off 2 sts once.
• DEC one stitch at neck edge every row twice.
• DEC one stitch at neck edge every ALT row twice.
• DEC one stitch at neck edge every 4th row 3 times.
• DEC one stitch at neck edge every 6th row once.

I printed out my new and shiny graph, frogged the nasty Right Front piece right back to the armhole shaping, and FOLLOWED MY NEW IMPROVED INSTRUCTIONS!

What did I get for all of my trouble?

An elegant curved edge :

Fear not ! Just print out the graph paper and draw your curve by hand...

Get thee to thy local Office Despot or Wallgrins and buy thyself a CURVE!

Whether you use a fabulous French Curve like the ones by ALVIN pictured above or the school supply verison protracter/curve I got at the Dollar Store for $.50 below:

or even the edge of a bowl or plate, the results are the same:

You want to draw a nice edge outline that can be transformed
into the perfect neckline!

Make curves! It's easy. It's Chic! It's FUN!!!