STEEKING. I finally finished the body of the Kauni Cardigan, after having to rip down to the armholes, because apparently I can't count. There it was. Waiting for me to cut into it. I put it aside because I couldn't bear the thought of making another mistake in counting and then cutting it and having to knit all over again. Folks warned me. Some said they would never cut into knitted fabric. But I must be brave. Besides, I really want to wear this sweater sometime before the summer.

OK, so before you steek, you need to sew a zig zag line up both sides of where you are going to cut, just in case the yarn decides to unravel. My sewing machine was only zigging when it should have been zig zagging. This was my excuse. I couldn't bear it any longer. One day I decided to try and figure out what was wrong with the sewing machine. After fiddling around with some of the knobs I got it working again. I took a deep breath (oh yes, I always tell people that a glass of wine is mandatory in the steeking process). I zigzagged up either side of the middle steek stitch. There it was.

Then I took another even deeper breath, got out my ginghers (I was a quilter in my former life and would only use my ginghers on my very best fabrics), and then I cut all the way up where the armhole is supposed to be. And guess what -- nothing unraveled and all was right with the world. I counted correctly this time.

Here, I am starting to pick up the

armhole stitches. Now I am on the third row of the pattern. The sleeves are knit from the armhole down -- lots of decreasing and I should be finished in no time! I'll post more pictures as I progress.