You can steek many types of openings in a garment, such as armholes, necklines, side vents, cuffs, cardigan openings, etc. Let's start with an example of a steeked cardigan opening for a stranded sweater. Some patterns will begin by having you cast on a few steek stitches for one side of the front steek, then all the body stitches (not including the front button or ribbing bands which are added later, as usual), then a few more stitches for other side of the steek at the end of the round. Other patterns will place all of the steek stitches at either the beginning or end of the round. There's no appreciable difference in the final result. In all cases, the additional steek stitches will be knit in every round up to the top, as if they were just another inch or so of the body's circumference. Once the steek stitches are established in the first round, or just above the ribbing or hem, some patterns will stop referring to them and not even include them in subsequent stitch counts, yet you are still expected to knit them at the beginning and/or end of each round. Depending upon your method, your yarn and your nerve, your number of steek stitches might be anywhere from 3 to 10 stitches. It's a good idea to knit consecutive steek stitches with alternating colors, creating either a checked or a striped pattern up your vertical strip of steek stitches. (Personally, I find the stripes visually more useful, but these stitches won't show on the finished product, so this is mostly a matter of taste.) Changing the color with every steek stitch serves two purposes: 1) both colors are optimally secured without long floats and 2) you've made clear sewing and cutting guidelines for later. The steek stitches must all be bound off or held at the top to prevent them from dropping. Don't forget about that! One of the most common 1st timer mistakes is forgetting to secure the steek stitches at the top, only to have them run once the garment is worn. Once the body is done, depending upon what type of yarn you've used, you might want to reinforce your steek before you cut it open by adding either machine-sewn, hand-sewn or hand-crocheted stitches in vertical lines on each side of your proposed cutting line.

How should I reinforce my steek?

If you're using Shetland wool, as one often does with Fair Isle sweaters, your yarn is not really inclined to unravel unless stressed. Have you ever noticed how difficult it can be to rip out and rework any knitting done in Shetland wool? The fibers in that particular type of wool cling to each other tenaciously, so much so that some particularly steel-nerved Shetland knitters use no reinforcing stitches for their steeks whatsoever - they just cut away! (Ok, now I'm scaring myself a bit!) However, the hand sewn or crocheted steek provides a simple, elegant finish plus a nice bit of reinforcement for the more timid (sane?) among us and our Shetland wool. The crocheted steek has become very popular lately. Do a google search on the topic and you'll find that there are several sites on-line with great information and clear examples of crocheted Fair Isle steeks, so I won't repeat those examples here. The most notable expert on the crocheted steek topic (and countless other knitting topics, too) is Meg Swansen, daughter of Elizabeth Zimmerman. Her site is: www.schoolhousepress.com. In a nutshell, one vertical line of crocheted chain stitch joins the right half of the center steek stitch with the adjacent half of its neighboring stitch. An identical line is crocheted over the center stitch's left half plus its neighbor's adjacent half. The horizontal bars between the 2 crocheted lines are cut, the steek stitches flop back and the crocheted chains form nice covers for the cut edges.

Next: Crochet vs. Machine Steeks

Previous: Why Steek?



Copyright ©2006 Mary Ann Stephens for SkiKnits.com & KidsKnits.com
DO NOT DISTRIBUTE