dreaming of steeking

I’ve had a good number of non-bloggable projects to work on in the past few months, and I’m psyched to finally be able to share pictures of one of my favorites. I took on this project as commissioned sample knitting for Knit Picks, and among the terms of that arrangement is that the project musn’t show up online until it has appeared in their catalog, or in this case, online. The project is a little girl’s cardigan, all in colorwork, from Color By Kristin:

I enjoyed working on this project, partially because several aspects of it were challenging for me. Because it was a paid knitting project and the recipient is such a big figure in the industry, I wanted the garment to be as close to perfect as I could get it, and that meant a LOT of finishing details. The whole project was a lot of swatching, blocking, measuring, sewing, and just general fussing. The good type of fussing, though. I love a good knitting challenge, and this project definitely provided one.

I reinforced the steeks with my sewing machine before cutting them. At first I was reluctant to do a steeked project in superwash wool (Knit Picks’ Swish Worsted), but I didn’t have any problems with it or complaints to report. I covered the raw edge of the steeks with blanket stitching, and sewed the zipper in by hand. I’m really pleased at how all those details came out! I worked hard on getting them just right, but in the end I had a sweater to send back that I was proud of. I even had to learn how to do the embroidered french knots that were the final detail of this piece! (The pink dots in the flower motif.) The project was a lesson in details, start-to-finish.

My one disappointment with this project is the way it appears in Knit Picks’ materials. The model is too big for the size I knitted, or the sweater is too small for her, or both! The sleeves look very tight, which I’m sure was no fun with the long floats within them. The neckline looks like it is pulling, too. If I were planning this sweater for a child I know, I would plan for a little bit of positive ease, instead of the tight fit they are showing on the model. I swear I sent away a sweater whose zipper laid flat! The original version of the sweater from the book looks a lot sweeter with some comfy positive ease to grow into.

Photography troubles aside, the best benefit of knitting this project (besides the paycheck!) is that while I was working with the new skills and heightened detail work, I was totally inspired to knit more garments with this level of complexity and finishing. I had such a good time concentrating on all the details, and it was so satisfying to create something to complicated that I could be so proud of! I really want to do a full-fledged steeked colorwork garment for myself, all in fingering weight. I’m thinking about maybe this one or this one (Rav links), but I haven’t found just the right combination of modern motifs and shaping with all the finishing bells and whistles. I may have to get creative and hack together elements or design my own! Unfortunately, I’ve got so much going on, knitting-wise, that I haven’t had the time to start this pipe-dream project, nor will I for the forseeable future. So I will just keep dreaming of steeking until the time is right!