we've got one of my fave knitty pals on the blog today. kelly from the blog "celtic cast on" is here today to so sweetly talk to us about one of those things most of us knitters don't enjoy - seaming. thankfully she's got some skills when it comes to seaming (and to just about all knitting things) and she even filmed us videos!!! can i get a woot woot!!! thank. you. kelly. awesome!

kelly's always knitting up the most gorgeous projects and her images are equally as lovely (isn't she so purdy? i couldn't resist embarrassing her with a collage of her cute self). she's a big part of our knit alongs and also one of my trusted moderators in our ravelry group. this gal has some serious knitting mojo. you all ready to learn from her and tackle those seaming skills? i know a few of you made an aidez....so pay attention :P

here's kelly.....

inversion cardigan

SEAMING....

It's one of those words a lot of knitters CRINGE over when they hear it...same as GAUGE and SWATCH.

I used to cringe too...that is until I realized that the sweaters I had knit without swatching and getting gauge were complete flukes and would come back to haunt me.

The same can be said for seaming. I was one of those knitters who HATED seaming. I'd knit a sweater and then the pieces would sit in a basket forever just waiting to be seamed or I'd seam it up as quickly as I could not taking into consideration the best way to seam that part of the garment. I avoided it like the plague because I could never get my seams to look right and I was never fully happy with the knit.

1. gelsomina aran 2. aidez

Don't get me wrong I do absolutely love top down knitting, being able to try on as your go and adjust for a perfect fit is amazing but there are time's when you DO need seams to make a design hang and fit the right way.

1. fable cardigan 2. linney cardigan

I"m going to show you the three seaming techniques I use most often, the invisible seam, the shoulder seam and joining a sleeve.

The easiest and probably my favourite is to seam the main body. Usually it's just matching up knit stitches and the work goes smoothly. Once you get used to this technique it becomes a great tv companion.

SEAMING VIDEOS

Invisible Seam
NOTE: During all these seaming techniques take the time to straighten out your work every now and then to make sure one side isn't getting ahead of the other. It will save you from ripping back later when you come to the end and discover one side still has 2 inches of fabric left.... been there done that!

Now for the shoulder seam!

Shoulder Seam
Last but not least, the sometimes tricky one, joining the sleeves. This is actually a combination of the two techniques I have already shown you so once you master the previous two you will have no problem's joining a sleeve.

Seaming a Sleeve

If you plan on making garments you want that entire sweater, tank or tee to be a reflection of your knitting skills. Don't cop out on the most important parts of the process just so you can say it's finished. Take the time to learn the skill of seaming, practice and hone it so that when people look at it they say ""Wow that looks like its right out of a store!"

Now make yourself a cup of tea, grab that sweater that's been sitting in a basket forever waiting to be seamed and take the plunge!!

thank you so much for all those awesome videos kelly! you rock girl! i don't know how many times i've gotten stumped over seaming. these will definitely be a huge resource for us! you guys can check out all of kelly's awesome knitting and read more about her on her blog here and on her ravelry page here.

you can follow along with all things summer sweater knit along:

ravelry group | blog | flickr group

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