No need for torture

Reverse stockinette seam
Originally uploaded by larodrig13

The new Aran Knitting book by Alice Starmore includes a beautiful new pattern, Eala Bhan. It is shaped and of course cabled. As good cables go, there is pattern stitches both on the right and wrong sides. No big deal, been there done that.

There are a couple of people knitting it in the round to avoid the reverse stockinette seam........they say it always comes out ugly uh? where did that one come from?

If you work the selvage stitch as the rest of the others in the row, make sure it is not loose or deformed, and use the proper technique, it is not ugly, nor difficult. It comes our just right.

I knit a tiny swatch last night and seamed it using contrasting (red) yarn, to prove my point. There it is. I left one bit of red yarn loose so you can actually see the seaming yarn. The rest of the seam does not show the joining yarn and it does not look ugly nor deformed and it is not difficult. The swatch of course is unblocked, unwashed just as I had it in my hands right after I seamed. After the piece is washed, you should not be able to see the seam at all.

Knitting the cardigan in the round would imply keeping track of many charts, decreases, increases and armhole shaping, plus steeks and finishing. That is OK too if you want the extra work, but why do it if it is so easy to just knit the pattern as written and seam?........someone was even talking about the need to create a spreadsheet to keep track when knitting it in the round. .....no need for torture, says me.
I knit in the round, I steek but I do not go an extra mile if there is no need.