Sound Bites & Snap Shots

My friends and I decided that we would like to all knit the same sweater.  Each of us threw out ideas, we voted and the Briyoke Sweater by Matilda Kruse won.  We were drawn to this pattern for several reasons.  It was knit in fingering weight wool making it lightweight but warm and the yoke featured a colorwork technique called brioche.  Lastly, the cardigan was designed to be steeked, a new skill for many of us.

Our knit along officially started August 1, 2020 and would run until today, October 1st.  Because I had to order yarn, I finally began mine August 19th.  By then, everyone was quite a bit into the pattern and one lady was actually done!  (She blamed it on serious insomnia.)

The pressure, I mean, fellowship, was helpful to meet a deadline of a completing our sweaters on time. We decided we would pretend it was our Rhinebeck Sweater, the one we would wear if we were going to the wool festival held the third week of October.  (The New York Sheep and Wool Festival aka Rhinebeck was cancelled, of course, due to Covid.)

The process of making this sweater involved knitting a pullover that had extra stitches built into the front of the sweater.  These stitches formed a bridge that would be later cut which is what steeking is all about.  We reinforced this center column of stitches with machine stitching and then we cut the center column stitch to open up the sweater. Because the wool was “sticky” and the columns were sewn, our knitting didn’t unravel.  This technique has been on my bucket list for quite some time but I was a little nervous to do it alone.

While many people steek and then return to knit on the button bands, we opted to do ours ahead of time so our sweaters would be even closer to completion.  I had never done this technique either.

When it was time to cut, I inserted a cutting mat between the top and bottom layers of the sweater so I couldn’t accidentally more than I intended.  Before I knew it, the fronts opened up.  It was exhilarating.

We all did a very happy dance when we were done.  It was so much fun that I’m already dreaming of doing it again!