Flower Fantasteek
We are in love with the Flower Fantasteek Cowl by Heather Storta! This is the perfect project for those looking to tackle steeking for the first time. It's also a great introduction to buttonholes (and these are the best we've seen). We hope you love it!
Construction
This stranded colorowork cowl begins with the lower ribbing knit flat, with the tidiest buttonholes you've ever seen. Once the ribbing is complete, 5 extra stitches are cast on for the steek column, the work is joined in the round, and the stranded colorwork is knit in the round. Once complete, the steek column is bound off and the top ribbing, which is narrower than the lower ribbing, is again worked flat. After binding off, you'll reinforce the steek stitches using the crochet method, and then cut. 😮 You'll pick up stitches along the cut edges for the button bands, block, then sew on the buttons. Those new to knitting with charts may want to read the article How To Read Knitting Charts on our website.
Swatching
There is a swatch for this pattern to give you practice steeking before you steek your cowl! To make it more practical, the swatch
- has only 3 of the flower motifs around
- has garter stitch at the top and bottom
- has no ribbed edge
However, you'll steek the swatch in exactly the same way you'll steek your cowl. The first stitch of the round (the column of mostly white stitches labeled stitch 3) is the cut line. You'll anchor your crochet chain to the edge of the swatch, right through the bind off stitch, then crochet together stitches 2 and 3 on each row all the way down the swatch. Then rotate your swatch and repeat with stitches 4 and 3. Once you're done, you'll cut down the center of stitch 3. (See the steeking video further down this page to see it done on the actual cowl.)
To visualize the difference, we've included these photos for right and left handed knitters:
Locking Floats
Whenever one color is unused for 5 or more stitches, you may want to lock or trap your floats to help you maintain an even tension. To lock floats, bring the resting color over the working color behind the work before working the next stitch. Knit. Return the resting color to the resting position. The color that you want to pop (typically the motif color, in this case Color A) should be kept in the LOWER position. For Right Handed knitters, this would typically be held in your left hand.
Colorwork Tips
Knitrino recommends knitting stranded colorwork with two hands. The strand of yarn that is carried lower than the other on the wrong side will create larger stitches and can appear more dominant on the right side of the fabric, so carry the float of the background color in the upper position on the wrong side, and the motif in the lower position. For most right handed knitters knitting with 2 hands, you'll carry the background color in your right hand and the motif color in your left hand.
The floats should lie flat without being taut when the stitches are well stretched out across the needle. Adjust the tension of the carried yarn at the end of each round, if necessary.
If a stitch is pulled too tight and appears too small on the right side, it can be fixed by making a duplicate stitch over top in the correct color.
Reinforcing and Steeking
First, a note on reinforcing: there are lots of ways to reinforce your work before cutting it, including sewing a line up a row of stitches with a sewing machine, sewing a line up by hand, and Alison's personal favorite, which is not reinforcing the work at all! If your work uses a wool fiber that felts easily, reinforcing isn't really necessary, it will gently felt itself together with a little wear and movement. (If you're using a synthetic yarn or something that doesn't felt naturally, by all means reinforce!) Psychologically, a lot of feel better knowing we have physically reinforced it ourselves. You can use the method that suits you. We're showing the crochet method, in part because we like that it helps fold the cut edges underneath the work.
To prepare to cut our work, we recommend blocking in cool water and laying flat to dry. This will allow your yarn to relax (spa day!) before cutting. You can also trim any loose ends behind the work, and brush them out of the way before cutting.
Once we're all set, we'll use a crochet hook and waste yarn to crochet together stitches 2 and 3 and 4 and 3. This ties the yarns together so they can't go unraveling.
When we cut, we'll cut down the center stitch, in between the crocheted stitches.
Then when we pickup for the button bands, we'll pick up stitches in the center of the stitch columns on either side of the 5-stitch steek column.
This video shows the full deal. How to reinforce your steek, and how to cut it. Lefties should jump ahead to the 4:13 mark.
Pickup for Button Bands
Once we've steeked, we need to add the button bands to the cut edges. The important thing is that you get your buttonholes on the correct band, otherwise, your cowl won't close properly. All your buttonholes should meet in one corner of the cowl. If you lay your cowl flat on the table with the front side facing you and the cast on edge at the bottom, the buttonhole band will be on the right side for right handed knitters, and on the left side for lefty mirror knitters.
We'll pick up stitches in the center of the stitch columns on each side of the 5-stitch steek column, 2 columns over from where the crochet edge is.
Lefties can jump to the 0:15 mark.
Finishing instructions
Once you've added the ribbing for the button band and buttonhole band, block your cowl so the ribbing lays flat. The cut edge should fold under nicely, as shown in the photo below. (Note the image below is for right handed knitters. Left handed knitters will have the buttonholes and buttons on the opposite sides of what's shown here.)
You'll then sew on the buttons as shown in the video below. After that, wrap the cowl around your neck, button up, and look fabulous!