Crocheted Steeks

I was asked a while ago, to comment on steeks by the Indianaknits list. This is the answer to that request, which I am doing here so that I can use pictures, since the hand waving doesn't come through. This is the 3rd Fast Sweater, with its body now finished, it would work if the person wearing it did not mind having their arms held tight against their sides...No? Well, OK.

The back of the neck is pooched out in this picture because the neck steek is smaller than the back of the neck and then there are decreases as well. If you can see the pins they are marking decreases. (Put the number of pins that there are decreases all hanging from one of their number, place this in the first decrease,(works for increases too) then every time you decrease, take a pin for the bottom and pin it into the decrease, when you run out of pins, stop decreasing.)

When I knit the body I cast on the front and back and knit to the start of the armholes on circular needles. Once at the armholes I bound off 4 stitches at the side markers. On the next round I did an alternating, backward loop cast on of 11 stitches, with the 2 colors being used in that row. These stitches were set off with markers, and the start of round, (which had been on a side seam, already) continued to go up one of the armhole steeks. When I got to the point of casting off the neck stitches I cast off 22 stitches at the center of the front. (up until now the back and front are identical so I just picked one and said, "I hereby declare you the front", bound off the center 22 stitches and that is now the front.) On the next row I did the same thing I did at the armhole, 11 alternating, backward loop, stitches cast on. Then I decreased up the front until the number of stitches required had been reduced, and knit merrily along up to the top of the shoulders, which I 3-needle bound off, starting at the shoulder, on both sides, so I bound off until there were no more front stitches and left the rest on the needle for the back of the neck.


So we have this very deformed piece of knitting, with what looks like large buttonholes, (where I bound off the armhole and neck and then cast on the steek stitches) and the pattern is weird above the buttonholes, and she is giving this thing away?
Anyway on the neck I am going to do the crocheted steek, for a couple of reasons: 1. (and most important) I want to start doing this and there are people sleeping upstairs where the sewing machine is, and 2. it will give me a chance to show both methods without having to make a swatch.
The method I am using is explained very well by Eunny, so I am just linking to her explanation.
So I crocheted up one side of the center row of stitches and down the other I used a rust mohair that will grab immediately, and felt in quickly. (and besides it was sitting next to the chair I was sitting in and I am nothing if not lazy.)

Then I cut between the lines of crochet. (I have no idea why the crochet, looks brown on the cut picture, but I could not get it to straighten out without messing up all the other colors)

The last picture is the neck with the steeks folded back so that you can see what the line of the neck will be at the start of the pickup, for the neckband.

The next post will be the armhole steeks which will be sewn on the machine.