How to steek – crochet method

Steeking means that you cut right through your knitting. Now, don’t get your scissors out just yet. You need to prepare your attack: secure your stitches first to avoid the rest of your work unravelling.

Steeking is usually done in circular knitting. It’s said to be very useful to get your armholes right in fair-isle work, or for turning a knit-in-the-round sweater into a cardigan. I have made a steek to create a thumbhole into a sleeve.

To steek using the crochet method, you can work over 3 or 5 stitches. In my case, the garment was already knit when I realized I would be doing some steeking. So I did it over 3 stitches, so as not to lose a lot of stitches. Doing it over 3 stitches means that you will reinforce the outer stitches with crochet stitches and will then cut through the center of the center stitch. Doesn’t that sound simple?

What you need

A small, sharp pair of scissors
A piece of yarn in a contrasting colour
A tapestry needle
The garment you’re going to attack
Some left-over yarn you want to use to crochet the edges of your steek with
A crochet hook that is a slightly smaller size than your knitting needles. For example: if you used size 4.5 needles for your knitting, use a size 4 crochet hook.

How to steek

Prerequisites: You need to know how to make the following crochet stitches:

slip stitch
single crochet

Decide where you need to cut your garment.
Example: If you’re turning a sweater into a cardigan, you will need to make a steek in the center front. To make the thumbhole, I needed to steek in the center bottom of the sleeve. I was lucky, I needed to do it in between the grey and the black of the sleeve. That was a nice visual aid.
Take a close look at the stitches where the steek should come. Look for the vertical line of V-shaped stitches that make up the cutting area.
To make it more clear, I’ve indicated the V-shapes in red in the picture.
Take a piece of yarn in contrasting colour and, with a tapestry needle, weave it through the center of the V-shaped stitches.
This piece of yarn will function as a visual aid while you cut through the center of these stitches.
Make a slip stitch on your crochet hook.
Look at your garment again and turn your work so you can start at the bottom of your steek.
Note: You’ll be crocheting through the V’s of the stitches on the left and right of your soon-to-be-steeked V’s. The stitches look just as crochet stitches when you hold them like that.

Do a single crochet in the first V of your steek.

If you’re	start the first stitch
left-handed	on the left.
right-handed	on the right.

Repeat in each V on the verticle line.

Left-handed	Right-handed

If you’re making	you will need to
a cardigan	bind off at the end of the line; and repeat step 7-8 on the other side.
a thumbhole	do a single crochet at the top/bottom of your center steeking row, so as to join one side of the thumbhole with the other side; repeat step 7-8 on the other side; and do a single crochet at the top/bottom of your center steeking row and join with a slip stitch to the first single crochet you made.

Bind off.
Put your hand underneath your steeking area, and stretch the stitches as wide as they go.

Note: You can also lay your garment flat and pin it down, if you find that easier.
Look at the contrasting-coloured yarn you weaved in and carefully cut the horizontal bridges of your stitches.
Important: Pay close attention so as not to cut the V’s themselves or the adjacent crocheted stitches.