I am alternating between last-minute procrastination and freaking out over the steek workshop I’m scheduled to teach on Saturday. I know I’m qualified to teach it. It’s just that I’ve never taught this subject before, and it’s not one that you see taught very often. There are a LOT of opinions out there on how to do them, and lots of vague references in the literature to what they are and how to do them, but not a whole lot of really solid information. So I’m trying to organize what I have and write up a little handout of my own and simultaneously organize my thoughts enough to coherently fill four and a half hours with my wisdom on the issue. Not to mention, I need to pull out my sewing machine and make sure it still works and is threaded properly and I know how to use it before I drag it to the store and try to act like I know what I’m doing. Gack!
So what the heck is a steek? It’s the technique of stabilizing your knitted fabric through one of various sewing or crocheting or other techniques (including doing nothing) and then cutting into it with scissors in order to create armholes or the center front opening for a cardigan. It’s the coolest thing ever, and every knitter should know how to do one. It’s not even that scary once you’ve tried it. But no one was teaching it, so I stepped in to fill the vaccuum. I just hope none of my students is already well-versed in steeks and starts asking me all kinds of arcane questions.
That said, I had my third session out of five with my current beginning knitting class tonight, and it rocked. I love it when they are all nice people, everybody learns how to knit, and they ask good questions while having entertaining conversations amongst themselves. I am SO going to miss that next quarter when I am off having a baby and welcoming her to the world.
Now back to my pile of books and my Word document…