#steeking

[himikochan]

Heyyo friends I wanted to share my recently finished object! I try to do at least 1 sweater a year that challenges my knitting and crafting skills. This year I picked steeking- a technique where a knitted object is sewn and cut into- and this one also delightfully used up a bunch of yarn that I had purchased in 2020 for a different project (I tried to make a pattern for a Feather and Fan dolman sleeved cardigan and there's a reason no one has done that, at least in the colorway I did, it was hideous-- that being said, I did chart out how to do an in pattern feather and fan increase so I have that tucked away).

I've recently de-stashed a lot of yarn: there's no shame in admitting that what makes you feel creative and comfortable has changed! And you should be okay with letting half-finished projects go if you don't want to finish them! My grandma has moved into a community for seniors on fixed incomes, who are often on the hunt for cheap/free crafting supplies, and the folx in her building were absolutely delighted to accept the skeins that I didn't love anymore!

I have been thinking a lot about how I want the space I live in to look; especially because I'm privileged to have been gifted so many crafting/art supplies over the years, purchased some and had my interests change, I've been on and off struggling with my mental health, and I've been really prioritizing making my space easier to keep tidy and "sparking joy" so to speak. So now my yarn stash and tools largely fits into 1 bin! I don't necessarily have projects in mind for them, but they more closely align with the colors I like to wear now, textures I like to knit with, and it's a manageable amount for me to paw through when I'm ready to cast on a new project.

All of the yarn for the abandoned dolman cardigan was saved from being re-homed and I was committed to using at least some of it because I had a good amount of it! I had purchased 5 cakes of Palette in Cosmopolitan (a fuschia fingering weight), 4 of Aloft in Cosmopolitan (a fuschia lace mohair), and 4 of Wool of the Andes Sport in Ash (a grey sport weight) from Knitpicks. I knew I wanted to make a cozy sweater out of it but the fuschia and grey color palette was a little too stark for the designs I've been into lately.

On Local Yarn Store day this year, I had picked up a skein of ColourLab DK by West Yorkshire Spinners in Tutti Frutti from Firefly Fiber Arts Studio (a self striping DK weight yarn in yellow/purple/pink/magenta/orange) because I thought it would look interesting with those colors! I DID NOT THINK ABOUT HOW THEY WERE ALL DIFFERENT WEIGHTS THOUGH!!! don't worry it ends up okay

I ended up picking the pattern Flower Power by Anna Johanna because it was a steeked color work sweater that used 3 different colors- it's meant to be knit entirely in a DK weight which is what my multicolor is. Sport weight, my grey, is a little lighter than DK but I knew wouldn't be too much of an issue. My fuschias were held together but a fingering weight and lace held together is still functionally much smaller than than a DK.

I struggle with gauge and my gauge changes as I knit, so swatching only helps me so much. My projects have a tendency to grow during blocking, especially length-wise. I was between sizes so I sized down and basically knit the length at 60% of what I wanted (so pre-blocked the sleeves were just past my elbows and they blocked out to my wrists). For the yoke, I followed the pattern as written but used size 6/4mm needles (I swapped to the recommended size 7/4.5mm for rows of a single color) because I knit my colorwork a little loosely. When I got to the body, my fingering weight was just too thin so I held it double and still sized up to size 10/6mm needles so I would have a nice cushy fabric.

I still ended up with a full cake and a half of Palette and Aloft, a half skein of ColorLab, and probably 2 of Wool of the Andes Sport. But I used so much of what I had and I have a cool new cardigan!!!

The pattern was well written and the design is super cute! I will say, the bottom half of the last set of flowers is a little tight but I suspect that's an issue with me sizing down and my gauge issues. I don't think that's a pattern issue, that's my bad, and really it just affects the drape when I raise my arms up which isn't really an issue. Additionally, if I had sized up I think the body of the sweater would have been too big for me. Maybe I should have used the bust dart option in the pattern but I didn't think it would be necessary (TL;DR it's probably my shoulders causing the issue but because of the way 3D patterning works with yokes, the tension can migrate to the chest even if you don't have a large chest).

While I like my cardigan very very very much, I can now see that these stripes weren't the best pick to show off the flower pattern. I can see the flowers more now than pre-blocked, but the stripes are a little too bold and detract a bit from the overall effect. IMO it looks like a technicolor cheetah print, which I like, but it's not the flowers I was thinking haha. The length of the dyed stripes is very long, which I normally like, but a shorter or smaller stripe might have softened the bold yellow line. Additionally, those colors are the same intensity as the grey: if I had replaced the grey with a white or light grey, the multicolor stripes might have shown more.....

This was my first time steeking and I loved it! I followed the prep instructions in the pattern and followed along with Katie Green's tutorial on cutting steeks. It was very very fun and NGL it was exhilarating cutting through something I had knitted!

The buttons also came from my stash, my mama gave them to me a few years ago :')

so like I'm feeling the normal PROJECT NAUGHTY and I LOVE PROJECT and in 2 weeks, when it's cold again, I will love them :3

.

PS I just finished writing this post and I'm a bingus and just realized this is my second sweater this year (I count the year ending on my birthday) and I never finished my post on the Soldotna sweater

PPS I tried a knitting machine at the library and I loved the experience! I think that's my new thing to learn and tinker with and, because I love the feeling of fingering weight and struggle with gauge for fingering weight, I bid on one and GOT one at a steal! It'll be here next week, thinking of names to give them :)

[cedigcrafts]

In Decmeber 2020, I knitted my first jumper, but I made it a bit too short for how I like jumpers, so I haven't worn it as much as I want to.

So I decided to turn it in to a cardigan!

I used a method called "steeking," which is where you knit something in the round, then stabilise the material on either side of the mid-point and just cut it!

I've done it before and thought it would work here, and well, it did :)

It's a bit early in the year for this cardigan to be worn out and about but if you know me IRL expect to see it come December!

[lattes-and-llamas]

2024 Geek-A-Long: Steeking Tutorial

[randomlytaylord]

I tried out a #NewToMe knitting technique. It’s called steeking, where you knit a tube and cut it up. The instructions called for wool, but I’m more partial to acrylic and because I wanted a blanket, I wanted something economical. With the basic striping patterns it is just long enough to be a nice size for me to cuddle up under. Cutting it up was a bit more nerve wracking than it probably would have been with wool, but the stitches held up really well with this cheap acrylic, and hasn’t shown any signs of ripping out from the bound edges. I had some left over yarn and crocheted this cute #Amigurumi triceratops from a pattern called ‘Tanner the Triceratops’ by @TheNicoleChase that I found while searching Pinterest. I had just about enough yarn to get it done (and found some matching stash to complete it). I finished these projects a couple weeks ago, maybe about a week or so after my leg warmers, but I’ve been using the blanket for sleep and my youngest daughter, Bean had insisted on taking the Dino regardless of limb count, so it was a challenge to get it finished. #RandomlyTaylord #Knitting #Steeking #KidsToys #Crochet #WhichCraft #FibreArtist #Handmade #SelfishCrafting https://www.instagram.com/p/CqGS0QSOrr1/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[cottonkhaleesi]

First ever steek! The cutting bit went very smoothly, but I spent five tutorials and ten blogs trying to work out what special things you had to do with the ‘steek stitches’ because all the blogs mention 5-7 steek stitches/rows’ and then only ever use the three in the center and I was mightily confused.

[this-whining-mongoose]

A cozy new cardigan for October.

[saporongon]

Sighh

[tweekweek2024]

7 Days 'Til Tweek Week!

Tweek Week is in 7 DAYS! Tweek is training to get in the best shape of his LIFE! Will he be strong enough to PUNCH his DAD? Stay tuned to find out!

Many thanks to piwoicetea on twitter/x for the art!

[squeakpip]

I never seem to talk about it anymore but I still make things! I have a ton of project photos that I'll be posting as I'm organizing my backups. This is an Iggy Peck sweater out of handspun polwarth, with needle-felted steeks.

[purplerainbowdragon]

Finished this 12 coloured fair isle steeked knitted cardigan earlier in the year.

It took about 2 years to make (while doing other concurrent projects). Pattern is Yell by Marie Wallin.

[eatbabies0]

staek :]

[vyn-n]

and some more random pairs

[strawberriedmeadows]

Can you draw demon Steek (Possessed Stan x Imp Tweek) please?

this made me realize I've never drawn Imp Tweek before so thank you :3

click for better quality!

[jingerbunny]

Finally got all the busy work done and broke out the tiny bird scissors. And, you know what?

STEEKING. IS. MAGIC.

I feel like the most badass knitter ALIVE.

[saporongon]

Any steek enjoyers out there please i need to find my people