Steeking With Sticky Wool

A steek is a ‘bridge’ of stitches that joins what will later become an opening for an armhole, cardigan front or neck.  The purpose of a steek is to enable knitting in the round, thus staying on the right side, rather than having to knit back and forth with purl stitches on the wrong side. This is much easier when knitting colour work.

With Shetland or Scandinavian, or any other sticky wools, you can felt the steeks, simply make a running stitch either side of the centre column (down positions 3 & 5) before cutting, or... do nothing at all until the work is complete, as I do. 

A super wash or otherwise slippery yarn will need extra reinforcement and I will add a post titled: The Crocheted Steek Reinforcement. Look in labels under glossary, tutorials, knitting or crochet.

Column 4 (above) is the beginning and end of a new round (you can see the jog in the photo, below left). I join my yarn here and may end up with a lumpy stitch of 4 strands. Otherwise, it is the darker of your colours. Switch from dark to light to dark as shown, giving you a darker edge column on each side of the steek. This makes it easier to distinguish the steek from the garment and makes a distinct line to follow when picking up stitches.

If the steek is for a sleeve and the shoulders are grafted together, include the steek in the shoulder graft, folded at the arrows so that columns 1 & 7, 2 & 6 and 3 & 4 are grafted together, with the centre steek (grey arrows on diagram or red at left) set aside on a stitch holder.

Some prefer to cut the steek before picking up new stitches and this may be easier at times. I tend to pick up along one side, then cut the steek to make picking up down the other side easier. 

To cut the steek, carefully snip up the middle of column 4. That is, cut the column in half lengthwise. All of your joined ends will either fall away or can be trimmed, which means there is no need for sewing in along a steek. Yay!

Having 7 steek stitches, rather than 5, gives a little wiggle room for neatening. Half of the next columns (3 & 5) will also be trimmed away, later.

Use the edge steek stitch to pick up new stitches for the sleeve or front button band, as shown on the diagram. Note: Pick up 1 stitch for every row, with adjustments/decreases made on the first row of knitting or ribbing. This makes a smoother seam than if you were to pick up 3 then skip one, for example.

Steek with Herringbone stitch: Once the sleeves or bands are finished, trim the steek back to the centre of column 3 or 5. Don't trim too far ahead of your stitching (to avoid fraying): 

Thread a needle with fine yarn or thread in a similar colour and secure, without going through to the fronts. Working from left to right, take a little back stitch (or scoop) along top line (1 to 2), then another along bottom line (3 to 4), in repeat, with the trimmed seam inside. You can press it flat with your fingers. Continue in this way, tucking in the trimmed raw edge as you go. This method is neat, elastic and sits flat. The seams blends into the fabric and will hardly be noticeable.

If, however, you have an unsightly machine-sewn reinforcement as I needed on this adaptation of Alice Starmore's 'Thoroughbred', or just want to hide the seam, you might like to sew a ribbon down the inside as shown. Again, be careful not to stitch through to the front and allow room for a little stretch. A finer Herringbone stitch is still a good option.