oh steek cutting you're not so scary!
First of all, I'm so excited to see so many entries for the blog-a-versary contest. Thanks all for visiting and throwing your name in the hat. If you haven't entered it's not too late, you have until noon on Friday the 5th to win one of two homemade treats. Just leave a comment on this post.
And secondly, I cut the steek on the big bunny fair isle sweater. It's really not so scary as it seems, especially with a little planning. Why steek you ask, pulling on your hair in despair? Mostly, in this case, because of the fair isle section. Knitting stranded color in the round is SO MUCH easier (for me) than knitting back and forth. Purling with two colors makes me twitch. And also because I knit so much faster than I purl. Speed and ease can be good.
Here she is ready to go. You can see if you look closely that I've added 7 extras stitches in the center that act as the steek. I'm not going to go into too much depth on steeks as there are a bunch of fabulous sites that cover all things steeks much better than I would, such as this or this.
I decided to use crochet to secure the steek. There are other options, such as using a sewing machine to secure the steek stitches before cutting, but my sewing machine has strange tension issues, so crochet for me. Plus you get such a nice finished edge after cutting. The orange lines are the crocheted steek-securing stitches. Here is my favorite tutorial for this kind of steek action.
If you look closely you can see that I'll be cutting the little red horizontal "ladders" in between the orange crochet stitches.
Here are the first few stitches cut - see how nothing unraveled?
And here is the cut steek. The crochet stitches gives the cut steek a really clean finished edge that naturally folds in on itself. Now for buttonbands!
And secondly, I cut the steek on the big bunny fair isle sweater. It's really not so scary as it seems, especially with a little planning. Why steek you ask, pulling on your hair in despair? Mostly, in this case, because of the fair isle section. Knitting stranded color in the round is SO MUCH easier (for me) than knitting back and forth. Purling with two colors makes me twitch. And also because I knit so much faster than I purl. Speed and ease can be good.
Here she is ready to go. You can see if you look closely that I've added 7 extras stitches in the center that act as the steek. I'm not going to go into too much depth on steeks as there are a bunch of fabulous sites that cover all things steeks much better than I would, such as this or this.
I decided to use crochet to secure the steek. There are other options, such as using a sewing machine to secure the steek stitches before cutting, but my sewing machine has strange tension issues, so crochet for me. Plus you get such a nice finished edge after cutting. The orange lines are the crocheted steek-securing stitches. Here is my favorite tutorial for this kind of steek action.
If you look closely you can see that I'll be cutting the little red horizontal "ladders" in between the orange crochet stitches.
Here are the first few stitches cut - see how nothing unraveled?
And here is the cut steek. The crochet stitches gives the cut steek a really clean finished edge that naturally folds in on itself. Now for buttonbands!
posted by cheryl at 5:33 PM
8 Comments:
Ahh! That explains steeking so much better. I tend to scare away from Fair Isle and hopefully soon, I might reconsider it after all. You are such a great expect at it and your designs are awesome. Those bunnies are just so cute!
I haven't steeked yet, but from what I've seen crochet is the way to go. It looks so neat and orderly - less scary that way.
Steeking is so scary. Thanks for making it look not too bad. :)
I don't know, it still seems scary for me. I'll take your word on it though! And I still can't get over how pretty that sweater is.
Yup, it's still scary looking. I'm loving the bunnies, can't wait to see the finished cardigan!
Yay! And I am assuming that no alcohol was consumed prior to cutting the steeks (as I have heard suggested before). I will be forwarding this to a friend who has to cut for her Kauni.
this looks great! sorry i missed your contest. i've been on a blogging hiatus. hope you had a good blogiversary.
I'm disappointed that I missed the contest by just a few hours - whoops!
The sweater looks great. Someday I would like to knit a fair isle sweater, complete with steeks, but that day is a long time from now. ;)
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