My Steek MYSTIQUE!

I did it! I totally steeked that bad boy. Check it out:

Sewing the steek   Cutting the steek   Finished armhole steek   Ready for final assembly

Okay, since most of you probably have no idea what I’m talking about, steeking is a Norwegian technique for constructing sweaters. Basically you knit the whole body as a tube with no armholes, then you physically cut the tube to put the sleeves in. Sounds traumatic, right? Exactly. (Incidentally, that article I linked has pictures of this exact sweater I’m knitting. Do any other knitters think that Wendy‘s floats are too long there? She doesn’t look like she’s tacked the long ones down at ALL. All of my books say that you should definitely twist if carrying a float of more than five stitches. I’m just annoyed because her wrong side looks a lot neater than mine, and the dark green floats don’t show through the white nearly as much.)

Anyway, yeah, so the first picture is me using the sewing machine to secure the steeks, which I’d outlined in bright yellow yarn so my lines would stay straight. I went around twice as the pattern suggests… and then chickened out and went around a third time. Then I was satisfied that those ends wouldn’t be going anywhere. Next is me preparing to make the first cut. TRAUMA! I had to go have a beer afterwards. Third is the cut and completed arm hole. And in the last shot, I’ve sewn the shoulder seams and now I’m ready to insert the sleeves and finish up the collar. Shouldn’t take me too much longer, which is a good thing… because the baby it’s intended for (Ruth Lauren Cunningham, daughter of my dear college friend Nat) was born last week!

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  1. At first glance, I thought you said streaked. I quickily saw the sweater and felt better. I have always wanted to try steeking but I just haven’t found a pattern that I like that calls for it.

    Oh yes, they don’t seem to be tacked. Maybe she didn’t do it for time reasons? Either that or no one was going to be wearing it to begin with.

  2. Right. I mean, some of those at the tops of the trees are an inch or so long. I can just imagine little baby getting her fingers caught in there!

  3. What a weird way of creating a sweater….anyway, noticed your lovely sewing machine – am after one for myself – do you know of any good places where I can pick one up, preferably second hand?

  4. Hmm. Maybe on Craigslist or in the Trading Post? Mine’s a Janome from a couple of years back. I actually bought it from Tapestry Craft way before I started working there. We don’t carry many of the machines, though, and you’d probably save a lot by getting one second-hand…

  5. The reason that Wendy’s green doesn’t show through the white as much as yours is because she has long floats! Where you catch them they show through more.

    Great little garment. So cute and beutifully made. And, Kathleen, it is so not weird – it makes knitting fair isle patterns much easier because the right side is always facing you.

  6. Right, but you’re not supposed to have them so long, right, Mary-Helen? Or is the “tacking down every float longer than four stitches” one of those rules than you can occasionally break?

  7. Ooh, wow! I love the preview of Ruth’s sweater. And the obvious effort & trauma that goes with making it! If she was capable of excitement about anything but being fed right now, I’m sure Ruth would be excited. You’re the best, Kris!

    If you’re interested, you can see some (more) pictures of baby Ruth at my family pictures page. (The Baby Ruth [= candy bar] joke is always good for a laugh these days.)

  8. Oh, Nat, the girls are absolutely gorgeous. And HEY, we have the exact same cat tree as you guys!

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