Tuesday, May 02, 2006

To Steek or Not To Steek?

Day 2 (well, technically 3) of the Dulaan sweater, and rapidly approaching the armholes.

To steek or not to steek: that is the question:
Whether 'tis easier on the nerves to suffer
The flings and tangles of two color purling
Or to take scissors against a steek of stitches,
and by cutting, end them?

At this point, I will now admit to owning a copy of Alice Starmore's Fishermen's Sweaters and to having one of the ganseys knitted all the way up to about halfway through the steeks, though I haven't picked it up in a couple of months (ahem years) and am not entirely sure where the book is - possibly under the debris in my perpetually reorganizing studio or else in a box in the basement helpfully marked "miscellaneous" by the last set of movers.

However, I just found a brief description of the procedure in another knitting book, and really, how hard can it be? Plus I can't face flat knitting the back to match the front on a free spirited sweater of this nature.

Steeks it is.