Hi, Jan,
My little pussywillow continues to give me before and after (blooming, in this case) fun, but I’ve been making some of my own this weekend.
I soaked up some Vaquero beans to provide easy eating all week. These are gorgeous beans - so black where they are black that they shine blue if you move your eyes a bit while looking at them. They look like little Holsteins for the vaquero to herd. After soaking, a few Guernseys sneak in. (Maybe they knew the photos would be going on a knitting blog and tried to blend in by being ganseys…) ( BTW Rancho Gordo provides my bean fix - economical luxury for a foodie. I recommend them highly.)
In more before and after action, I cut the steeks on the front and neck of Norwegian hugs. While not as transformative as blocking lace, opening up a neck like this does make an interesting bag-like object suddenly look like a sweater.
Here is a closeup top-down view of the steeks before cutting. You can see the front of the neck, which is deeper and requires a longer steek, to the far side. The back of the neck, with less shaping and a shallower neckline, requires just a few rows of steek, but even that pulls everything into an odd shape.
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I sew a narrow and short zigzag stitch (I think it allows flex, especially if I cut the steek before I block) one stitch away from the cutting line. Here I’m cutting the front of the sweater.
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The result is so satisfying, it is worth the slight unease that hearing shears go through your knitting brings. Note that I haven’t cut the sleeve steeks yet. I’ll do that after I block everything so I can get the armhole depth just right by measuring against the actual depth of my sleeves. I hope to finish knitting those tonight - just a couple inches more to go.
Now I need to go and shop the Super Bowl sale at Coldwater Collaborative. I wonder how the before and after of my stash will compare, heh!
Love,
Ellen
Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.
February 7th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
You are so brave. I have yet to steek, but it is on my bucket list. I plan on going for extreme steeking though — without zig-zag. A friend from Norfolk insists it’s the only authentic way.
That little baby is going to be SO cute in that sweater!!
February 7th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
Those beans /are/ very pretty! It’s funny how they change colors before and after soaking.
It’s exciting that you’re to the steeks on the sweater, too. It does make a huge difference in how “sweaterish” it looks.
February 7th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
Steeking without sewing is definitely traditional - but for use with traditional (sticky) yarn. This sweater is in superwash, too slick not to sew first. But watch me steek my next Bohus sans stitching!
February 8th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
The sight of those scissors snipping (stabbing, ripping) into that gorgeous sweater gives me a chill… yikes! I hear Alfred Hitchcock shower scene music every time I scroll back up to see the photo again. (I must stop doing that.)