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.