To Steek or Not To Steek?

Accept challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory. 

          ~George Patton

I have mentioned before that I am a knitter. I learned to knit when I was about 10 years old. My mother and my grandmother both instructed me, and under their watchful eye I basically knit doll clothes and such. My first "big" project was a scarf, knit in Maize and Blue, during my freshman year at Michigan.

Over the years my interest in this craft has ebbed and then resurged, based on how much time and money I had to devote to it. In retirement it has provided endless hours of both relaxation and creativity (and a few frustrations!) I have produced many projects given as gifts and and knit for myself, and even won some blue ribbons at the county fair.

A small yarn shop opened in a town closeby the same year I retired, and I have joined a "Knit Night" group there. Every Thursday night a bunch of us gather to knit and chat. I have made some friends and learned a lot from some experienced and talented knitters. There are beginners that come too, and it has been fun to watch them learn and develop.

Over time, my skills have advanced to the point of becoming an expert... and my confidence in my abilities has grown with my skill. I find I am willing to try new things.  Just last week I tried a new technique for casting on stitches in a way that allowed me to turn the work around and work from the bottom once the top had been completed (a "provisional cast on" for the knitters amongst my readers...)

But there has been one advanced technique that has so intimidated me I have sworn I would never try it. It is called "steeking". When this technique is used, the knitter knits a project in the round-- that is, on either circular needles or multiple double pointed needles-- to create essentially a tube. Once this tube is the correct size, the steeking technique is used to cut a seam into the knitted fabric. The technique is used for complicated color patterns where multiple colors of yarn are used to create complicated designs. Doing this color work has to be done from the front side only. Knitting it flat would mean going back and forth, and every other row would be on the wrong side. Knitting in the round, going round and round on the right side, solves this problem. But after hours and hours of difficult work with many strands of different colored yarn, the idea of taking scissors to the completed project and cutting it was just more than I could consider...

So, I avoided any patterns that called for the technique. I admired them from afar, but refused to consider them... Steeking had become a brick wall that I was not going to go through or over. I would go around it.

Then I joined a group that is making a different afghan block each month. We meet one Sunday afternoon a month and learn a new technique for that month's block. We were told that if we knit two of these blocks per month, in a year we will have completed an afghan. So far I have really enjoyed the group and learning new stuff... until this month.

You guessed it-- the block called for us to learn how to steek. The pattern uses two different colors and we were to knit it in the round, and then steek the side edge. The instructor demonstrated the technique and I found myself thinking, "That doesn't look that hard..." I looked at the other women in the group and most of them had less experience as a knitter than I did. The instructor has become a friend, and she was smiling and I could tell was assuming I would just do it too.  "This isn't a huge sweater project, it's a 12 inch block... great way to try this!" she said. How could I admit defeat in front of all of them?

So, armed with new knowledge and only very limited confidence, I went home. I knit the block in the round. It took two attempts to get the steeking edge in place correctly, but I finally got it right. I took out my scissors, and with my husband's hands helping hold the block in place, I cut the fabric. We both gasped... it came out PERFECT!!! I cannot begin to describe the relief and pride I felt looking at that perfect square block!

Behold the newly "steeked" afghan square!

I have been thinking about this experience since. How many other things in my life have been holding me back because of my fear to go out on a limb and try something a little risky? What a vivid demonstration this was that if armed with knowledge and a little patience with the learning process, if I just forge ahead and try it, I can accomplish so much more and learn so much more...  and live life so much more fully!