Steeking

as i mentioned in my last post, my current project is the elizabeth zimmerman green sweater that i am making out of elsebeth lavold silky wool. this week i got up to the steeking part. i spent much of my time researching how to secure the stitches and eventually decided to go with the crochet method. (mostly because i am not secure enough in my sewing skills to attempt sewing such a stretchy piece of fabric). many thanks to eunny jang's online tutorial!

so here we go! before cutting:

a before cutting close up:

cutting - eeks!!! i definitely needed a drink after!:

but after cutting look at how neat it is:

i sewed down the crochet edge inside, knit up the stitches and started on the sleeve:

The true color of the yarn is closer to the blue pictures.

all in all it worked really well. i don't like how i sewed down the edges so i will be redoing those. also, it took a really, really long time. much longer than if i had just knit separate pieces and sewn them together. i don't know if i would use a steek for a solid color sweater again. besides not having to purl, count rows or piece together, i don't know if there is an upside? if you know of any other reason - please share!!!

normally, i would be knitting on this sweater like crazy and have it done by the end of this week but my husband sprung on me the fact that he never bought his mother a christmas gift. so now i am rushing to get a pretty lace beret done by friday with some stash sock yarn! - thank god for stash yarn and my habit of never throwing out a vogue knitting or interweave!!