STEEK GEEK

Q I have recently got into colourwork and I am having a lot of fun with it. I’d love to try my hand at a proper Fair Isle garment next, but I’ve come across the word ‘steeking’ and I’m not quite sure what it means! Can you help? Liz Burns, Sheffield

Absolutely! In a nutshell, steeking is a way to create holes in seamless tubes of knitting that’s done in the round – often the case in Fair Isle – without the stitches unravelling when you cut into them! The steek is a group of extra stitches worked between the end of one round and beginning of the next, and is the technique used to create openings for armholes, necklines, or the fronts of cardigans and jackets.

Your pattern will include these stitches so you will always be able to see where they are. Steeking works best with nonsuperwash wool, as this kind of yarn ‘sticks’ to itself easily, and will felt over time, making your cut stitches less likely to unravel. Once you’ve finished working your seamless piece of knitting, cast off as normal. Then prepare your steek by securing the edges with a chain of crochet either side of the central cutting line before you cut through to create the opening. You might feel anxious about taking a pair of scissors to your knitting but there really is nothing to worry about once you’ve done the prep! Once cut, fold the edges over to the wrong side of the work, and whipstitch them in place to secure them.

You can find a full guide, with photos of each step of the steeking process along with more tips at www.gathered.how/steeking. Rachael