When I was a new knitter, I would have gasped if you told me to cut apart my knitting. No way, no ma'am.

I distinctly remember a red Aran sweater my mother had - full of bobbles, cables, and knit at such a tight gauge it makes my fingers hurt just thinking about it. But she never wore it because it was too big on her. So she cut it apart and incorporated parts of the sweater into a lovely fitted jacket. 

I was shocked. Won't it unravel? Who would cut into a knitted garment that someone had clearly spent so much time on?

The truth is, that while knitting does unravel, there are lots of ways to cut knitted fabric. Steeking is perhaps my favorite and most-used method, and this sweater does indeed have a steek running down the front. 

Some design and fit issues left me less than thrilled with the finished product. That's the thing about experiments - they don't always work. My problems with this sweater were:

1. I didn't like the circular yoke. I'd originally envisioned set-in sleeves or a saddle shoulder construction, a la my Scrappy Sweater. But I did a circular yoke because it seemed like a good idea at the time. As soon as I went down that path, I regretted it, but as I so often do, forged ahead anyways. Whoops.
2. I was prepared to live with the circular yoke - after all, this is just an experiment in stashbusting and design - but it was too shallow. And, as circular yokes often do, it didn't come up high enough on my back neck, despite working short rows to compensate.
3. The sleeves were too tight. Combined with the yoke depth being too shallow, this made the sweater uncomfortable. 

I'd already woven in lots of ends, which makes unraveling difficult. Plus, the yarns (mostly handspun Icelandic thel and Shetland Spindrift) don't unravel so easily. Which makes them great for steeking, but not for correcting my mistakes.

So I decided to try something I haven't tried before. I cut the yoke right off, and picked up the live stitches onto my knitting needles, and the sweater is ready for yoke attempt #2. It was easier than I could have imagined.

Some tips: 

1. Cut as straight a line as possible. This will minimize waste. It was easy on this sweater because the colorwork clearly delineated separation between rows.
2. Make sure you're only cutting through one layer at a time. Sounds obvious, I know, but there was a point while cutting that I had a panicky moment. After that, I laid the sweater out flat and all was well.
3. Unravel the cut stitches, and pick up the live ones. That's really all there is to it.

This sweater was knit from the bottom up, so it's super easy to cut and pick up the stitches to continue working the yoke as if nothing had happened. 

It's also possible to do it the other way - say I had knit the sweater top-down and wanted to replace only the yoke. I'd cut just like I did, but then I'd need to graft the new yoke to the old one. This sometimes leaves a bit of a line, but it's definitely doable. 

I'd hoped that the end of January would mean that I have a new sweater to wear, but ultimately I want a sweater that is actually wearable, and that I like, so I'm willing to have it take more time.

xx,

​Pamela

My handspun sweater is at that stage of doneness where it is wearable as a garment, but still needs a few finishing touches – sewing up those faux seams, adding some handwoven ribbon to keep the steeked edges covered, and there might still be a couple of ends that need weaving in. But we managed to get out to the park for a walk in the sunshine, and it was the perfect layer for a spring-like day (in January!).
 
Last week I filmed myself cutting the steek down the center front. Traditionally, steeks are cut in colorwork – a way to speed up the knitting, since colorwork is easier done in the round than worked flat.
Really though, you can use a steek just about anywhere – as long as you’re using a yarn that’s not too slippery. 

Knitting the sweater in the round and then steeking it let me accomplish a couple of things. First, I was using handspun, which has more variety in thickness and color from skein to skein than commercial yarn. Knitting the sweater in the round meant that it would be visually even – no need to try to juggle matching left front to right front. Second, it meant I could knit a stockinette sweater with very little purling.
                     
Actually I did purl – the center front has one purl stitch, and each side has a purl stitch where the seam will be. The purl in the center front made for an easy visual for where to steek, and the side purls are there for a faux seam and to add a little bit of structure. But that’s it!
 
Steeking intimidates a lot of people because it seems so dangerous! Won’t the knitting unravel? Interestingly, knit stitches don’t really want to unravel in the direction a steek is normally cut, which helps soothe most people’s fears.
 
When you cut a steek, there are a couple of different ways to reinforce it to keep all your hard work from unraveling. The two main techniques I’ve seen are using a sewing machine and crocheted reinforcement.
 
Using a Sewing Machine to Reinforce a Steek
 
The idea is simple: sew a couple of rows of stitches just outside the cut. The machine-sewn stitches are strong and disappear into the fabric. You do have to be careful not to stretch the knitting as it goes through the sewing machine, or else risk a “ruffly” edge, but this technique is great for yarns that might not traditionally be steeked, like cotton or acrylic. You can find a bunch of great tips about machine sewn steeks here.
 
Reinforcing a Steek With Crochet Stitches
 
This technique uses two columns of crocheted stitches just outside the column of stitches to be cut. The crocheted stitches pull away from each other, leaving you a clear cutting path. Once cut, they roll under whatever edging you add, giving you a nice edge. This is my go-to tutorial for the crocheted method.
 
This second technique is the one I used for my sweater, partially because I like it, and partially because I didn’t want to haul out the sewing machine. Then it was just snip, snip, snip, and I had a cardigan instead of a pullover. 
 
I’ve heard a lot over on Instagram about how daunting steeks can seem, but they’re really useful in a lot of situations. Maybe I’m a little obsessed, but I think every knitter should try steeking at least once!
 
Do you have any experience with steeking? I’d love to hear about it – or any questions you might have about the process. I’m all ears!

xx,

Pamela