03
Feb
Feb
Knitting tip & techniques
Icelandic knitting: steek with me ! (1)
On coupe les mailles! (1)
Most lopi sweater instructions will ask you, before joining in the round, to cast on 1 or 2 extra stitches that will always be purled: those are the steeked stitch(es) that will be cut to open the cardigan. Later, they will ask you to machine sew a seam on each side of the purled st(s) using small, straight stitch, and then to cut between the seams.
This is what it looks like with one steeked stitch. It’s easier to see where to have the seam on the wrong side, where the purled stitches appeared as the knit stitches. The seams are thus on each side of the knit stitch: the idea is to caught the most fabric in the seam.
Seams can be doubled but it’s not absolutely necessary.
On the right side.
Then, you simply cut in the between. With only one steeked stitch, you have to be precise. This method works very well with Icelandic wool because it’s hairy and sticky but is not suitable for just any yarn.
With two steeked stitches, there is more margin for errors. This is what it looks like:
The more stitches, the longer the ends.
You can trim those hairs for a neater look.
Next: a step-by-step real live example with Olga.
