If you are not a knitter, the word "steek" may not ring a bell. If you are a knitter, the word "steek" may ring a sort of Pavlovian bell, one that says "flee! take your knitting and flee!"
Steeking is a trick that lets a knitter work in the round, so she can knit a big spiral without any purling, and still accommodate a body that has all these annoying parts like arms and shoulders. Knitting in the round yields a tube of fabric, and most people are only tube-shaped here and there. If you want to knit garments in the round (other than eel cozies), you're going to have to take a pair of scissors to your knitting.
Last month I was in the yarn shop with my daughter when she found some wool so Pink it requires a capital P. "Pink!" she said, handing me a skein. "Yes," I answered absently, "it's very pink." I put it back. She brought me two skeins. "Pink!" she reminded me, in case I had forgotten. I put it back again. She objected. After a few rounds of this I thought to myself, "She has a birthday coming. And an Aran-weight little-girl sweater would knit up pretty quickly." I brought home some of the Pink yarn and stashed it away.
I started a cardigan for her but it wasn't as pleasant as I expected. I do most of my knitting on skinny needles, and my hands were aching on the purl rows. I made what may turn out to be a rash decision: I cast on a few stitches at the end of the round and joined it to the beginning. This meant that I could knit all the rest of the stitches, but it also means I have to cut a steek and tack down a facing. I've never steeked anything before, but I feel cool even using steek as a verb. Steek, steeking, steeked, stoken? What's should the perfect participle of steek be? (Probably the very boring "steeked.")
The sensible thing would be to wait until I get the sleeves finished so I can see if it fits. The downside to steeking is that you can't rip and reknit if your plans gang agley as oft plans gang. But I'm not sure I can wait that long. I'm itching to pick up those scissors.
Recent Comments