First off, I should tell you that I’ve joined Pinterest, and have become completely obsessed. If you’d like to check out my boards, you can find me here.

I’ve been thinking about seamed vs. in the round lately. I’m working on a top secret sweater for my mother (Hi mom! Stop snooping!) that was written to be seamed, but I changed to be knit in the round. And even though I’ve done it dozens of times before, it got me
thinking about the aversion to seams that is out there in the knitting
world, and my personal reasons for avoiding seams.

I’ve got nothing against seamed or in the round knits. I often knit sweaters in the round, and I’ll admit it’s out of sheer laziness. I know perfectly well that the garment often looks more professional and avoids the dreaded bagging around the waist (and riding up to become a much shorter sweater) if it had the structure and support of seams. I think of seams as a good bra: a well done seam can support the knit and make the wearer look leaner and the knit look more polished. Whether or not this is a goal for your knits is definitely a personal choice. What I can’t quite figure out is why, feeling the way I do about seams, I often choose to knit in the round. Is it laziness? Doing it because it’s easier doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to me. The best I can come up with is that the idea of having a sweater in several pieces make me wonder if I’ll misplace a portion of it (front left side of cardigan, where did you?! etc.). But those feel like pretty flimsy reasons. Whenever I knit toys, there are tonnes of small parts and as much seaming as there is knitting, so… I’m not buying my own excuses.

What are your thoughts? Why do you prefer in the round or seaming your knits?