The pattern also had me make the sleeves as individual tubes most of the way up and then to attach them with steeks so the top is one big round tube. I'll cut the sleeves apart at the steeks then sew them to the sleeve steeks that I've cut in the sweater.
After I finished the knitting, I did a line of crocheted chain stitches at the edge of each steek (after I took the picture). My next step will be to cut (gasp!) the steeks and then sew the sleeves in and pick up stitches for the button band. Yes, this is very anxiety-producing, but I think the finished product will look wonderful.
Unfortunately, before I can cut open the steeks, I need to bind off the very bottom of the sweater. I used a provisional cast-on (with bright pink yarn as you see in the pictures) with the plan to put the stitches back on the needles and then bind off. The provisional cast-on lets me add more length to the bottom of the sweater if I want.
However, I'm seeing that this may not have been the brightest move on my part. The bottom band of the sweater is the right length, so now all I'm doing is putting the stitches back on the needle and binding off - steps that I could have skipped if I had just done a traditional cast-on. What's the big deal, you ask? 300 stitches with size zero needles! That's the big deal! Sooooooo, after a couple more hours of work on the bottom of the sweater, I'll be ready to take a big deep breath and cut this sweater up!
Have you ever done steeks? How did it work out for you? Any helpful tips (besides not using a provisional cast-on when I don't need to)?
I have never done them. As much as I have learned about all things knitting, I've not been able to teach myself anything involving seaming (yet)! I am pretty sure it's a mental block.
ReplyDeleteDepending on your bindoff - could you just go around with a crochet hook and skip the "putting stitches back on the needle" part? I don't do sweaters, so I could be so wrong here.
Seaming isn't too bad, although I used to fuss about anything that smelled of sewing! Now I don't mind so much, and I've learned that it is very important to do well for a garment to look good.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I could have just used a crochet hook to deal with the "live" stitches that needed to be bound off. I've used provisional cast-ons before, but never on a sweater like this. Next time, I'll do a regular cast-on and save the extra work for something worth it!