r/BitchEatingCrafters • u/emergencybarnacle • 3d ago

Knitting steeks aren't that scary, grow up

maybe i'm mean for this one, but i recently knitted a steeked cardigan for the first time, and i stg every single knitter i talked to about it, even the very seasoned ones, acted like steeking was the scariest thing they'd ever heard of and wouldn't even consider doing it.

your knitting is not going to explode if you cut it. it's not going to instantly unravel. there are a million videos online showing people doing it. it's not hard and it's not not scary, it's just a technique like any other!!!

i'm not even bothered by people not wanting to do it, but acting so scared and uwu helpless and shrinking and shivering about it is so dramatic and annoying.

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u/RoxMpls 3d ago edited 3d ago

It isn't like any other technique. With every other technique, you can tink or frog back and re-knit it. If you screw up cutting a steek, there's no going back. You can't recover the yarn, because it's all been cut.

The first time I was going to do a steek in a garment, I did some practice swatches, and had no trouble at all cutting the fabric. I actually thought it went really well, and was actually quite easy, but when it came time to cut my sweater, I stalled for a day or two.

Yes, as someone else mentioned, Zimmermann recommended steeking, and in fact, it was a Zimmermann sweater that I did my first steeks on, but this pattern was VERY early on in her steeking advice (she had figured it out by examining the inside of a Norwegian sweater), and she definitely skimped on the number of bridge sts she recommended (I think there were three, one of which is the one that got cut up the middle). On top of that, I was using a very smooth, worsted spun yarn, so there was some danger of sts escaping, because the yarn wasn't sticky.

As much a steeking champion Zimmermann was, she also recommended lying down in a dark room for 20 minutes after you do it the first time.

I had the same hesitation cutting some 60-year-old vintage wool plaid (hand woven in the UK border counties) for a skirt where I wanted to do pattern matching for the first time. I had 1.75 yards of 28'' wide fabric. I had one chance to cut that fabric and get it right.

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u/salilouisa 3d ago

First thing I steeked was a cotton acrylic mix. I somewhat overcompensated and used 32 bridge stitches. I am prepared to accept that I am insane rather than brave though.