Nothing to It

If you knit round and round, forming a tube, to make colorwork easier or just because you don't like to purl, eventually you will have to cut open your tube to insert sleeves, a neckline, or just open it up like a cardigan. Cutting your knitting in that fashion is known as steeking. Many years ago Stephanie Pearl-McPhee wrote a funny bit about cutting her first steek, then going to lie down in a dark room to recover. It does seem like a traumatic thing, to first create fabric and then cut it up, but Franklin Habit assured me there was nothing to it. One of my remaining Legacy Projects will require me to steek, so when the opportunity arose to make a quick sweater for myself first that would require steeking, I was on it.

First, knit your sweater. The sleeves were separated off from the body after the yoke, so I only had one steek to cut, the center front. Some people block first, but since I was going to knit on button bands, I didn't want to knit new yarn to blocked yarn, especially because this yarn blooms (becomes thicker) so much when blocked. Some people sew safety seams before cutting, but Lett-Lopi is the "stickiest" yarn I know, and I didn't think I needed to.

Make sure you're at the right spot, in the center of the steek stitches - also the beginning of the row for me, which made finding it easier. The most important hint I read beforehand: position your hand under the fabric being cut, above the fabric not being cut. Better to knick your hand with the scissors than the back of the sweater. Use sharp scissors; make small cuts.

All done. Despite my not-so-steady hands, I managed to stay between the stitches I needed to, and as expected, the edges curled back and grabbed onto each other. Stay tuned for button bands.

Two Decades in the Making

Finished at last!

Needles: US 8 (5.00 mm)
Yarn: Knit Picks' sadly discontinued Gloss HW, an aran-weight merino/silk blend, heavy but glorious to the touch; 10 skeins in Ruby
Pattern: Kerin Dimeler-Lawrence's Calluna Cardigan, which was once available on the Knit Picks site
Mods: Shortened the length above the waist, but don't ask me how after all this time

I started this in 2010, shortened the bodice to match my short-waisted-ness, then blanked on how to adjust the sleeves to match the changes. Twenty years later, i plucked it out of the bag, made and set the second sleeve, and made the collar. Than there was a pause of a few months while I got around to making buttons.

Whose Got the Button?

When I cannot find the Perfect Buttons, I remember with delight that I can make my own. The webpage instructions I use long ago faded into the Archive, which makes me nervous (what if the Wayback Machine disappears?), so I thought I'd explain a bit here.

Dorset Buttons

Step 1. You need plastic rings of a size slightly smaller than you want the finished button to be. Also, leftover project yarn. This is Aran weight, so I'm using 48" of yarn per button. Lace or fingering weight can take up to 100" per button.

Step 2. Cover 3/4 of the ring with blanket stitches. Pull the beginning yarn tail against the ring and catch it in the last 1/4 of stiches, completely covering the ring. Not shown: pull snug and snip off the tail.

Step 3. Align the bottom of the blanket stitches around the outside of the ring, then carefully push them all to the inside of the ring. Wrap the yarn 4 times evenly around.

Step 4. On the backside, the wraps do not cross in the center. Insert the needle where the crosses are closest to the ring, and tug towards the center, then run the needle back to the backside to secure.

Step 5. Wrap the 8 spokes, stitching from left to right but moving one spoke to the left each time.

Step 6. Repeat step 5 at least once. With this yarn, all I could manage were 2 rows. 

There are lots of pretty variations, including ones incorporating two colors. But I'm always so pleased with these that I haven't tried any of the others yet.