Technique - The Steek

 The Steek is used to create an opening (eg the front opening of a cardigan that is knitted in the round) or for shaping a garment at the armholes or neckline. When the yarn is smooth (ie not a Shetland wool), it is advisable to stitch the edges of the Steek with a sewing machine before cutting

The Steek consists of extra stitches at the beginning and end of each round that will eventually form the seam allowance for the bands.

The Steek stitches are usually either 2, 4, 8, 10 or 12 stitches, half at the BOR and half at the EOR. They are not shown as chart stitches, you need to remember to add them on. They are always knit stitches. When the work is colour work, the first Steek stitch at BOR is in the pattern colour, and then alternated, and the first Steek stitch at the EOR is in the background colour, and then alternated. Ie the Steek stitches are a mirror image of each other with the centre stitches in the same Pattern colour).

Sally's Method

Cutting the Steek 

1.     Weave in any ends that fall outside the Steek to lie within the Steek

2.     From the WS, smooth the ends so that they lie away from the Steek, those on the LHS to the left and those to the RHS to the right. Don’t include the ends from the CO and BO in the smoothing out – they will be dealt with at the end.

3.     Turn to the RS, keeping the ends in place.

4.     Cut through the centre of the Steek, between the 2 centre stitches.

5.     Cut the ends (not the CO or BO ends) to the same length as the Steak seam.

Cutting the Steek

1.     From the wrong side, check that all yarn ends originate within the 8 steek stitches. Weave any yarn ends that are within the body of the cowl across to lie within the steek. NOTE: leave the cast-on yarn ends free to weave in later.

2.     Separate the yarn ends into left and right of the middle of the steek and smooth them so they lie outwards from the middle. Flip the cowl over to the right side.

3.     Cut through the middle of the steek stitches (the bar between the two middle stitches) as accurately as possible

4.     Cut all the yarn ends off to be the same length as the cut steek (ie short) EXCEPT for the cast-on yarn ends and the yarn ends that were used to create the corrugated ribbing along the steek edges.

5.     Thread a needle with wool and bind the cut steek edge. To do this, roll the cut edge under 1 stich and then overcast the edge, quite closely, all the way to the bottom. Turn and do the same the other way, forming crosses with the previous stitching. Do this on both cut steek edges.

6.     Weave in the remaining yarn ends from the cast-on and from the corrugated ribbing.

 

Finishing the Steek Seam

1.     With yarn, roll the cut edge of the Steek under (towards garment body, not the band) and whip stitch in place, covering it down the seam and then back up, forming crosses.

2.     Weave in the cast-on and bind-off ends so that the edges of the garment are smooth.

Fruity Knitting Method

Sewing the Steek Before knitting the Bands

1.  eg a 10 stitch Steek.  Stitch  down the LHS of the far left Steek stitch using a long stitch length to keep the elasticity of the garment
2. Stitch across the (R) leg of the far left stitch and the (L) leg of the next left stitch using a wide zig zag to join two columns of stitches together
3. Do the same on the RHS of the Steek
4. Cut through the middle of the Steek but don't trim back
5. Pick up stitches along the front opening to knit the vertical bands

Knitting the Bands

Form both bands before cutting the Steek. If the bands are knit in rib, there are usually more stitches because rib draws the knitting in whereas stocking stitch is looser and flatter and takes about 15stitches per 10cm (= pick up stitches from every 3 out of 4 rows + a couple of extra stitches at the top and bottom corners of the band so that they lie square). The technique below is courtesy of Kate Davies (The Steek Sandwich).

1. Starting at the top of the Steek, with right side facing, push needle through the work through the middle of the stitch in the second column in from the Steek, wrap it in yarn, and pull through to the right side forming a stitch. Continue all the way down. Note that each stitch forms a little loop on the WS.
2. Knit the band eg 9 rows stocking stitch, ending with a WS row.
3. On the WS, use a smaller needle to pick up the loops that were formed when the band stitches were picked up.
4. Trim back the Steek to within 1 column of the zig zag
5. Wrap the band over the cut seam edge and do a thre needle bind off using the loops that were picked up.
6. Use the tails to sew the band ends closed