Selvedge

 I took Sunday morning to screw my courage to the sticking point and get on with the steeking of  my Philosopher's Wool sweater. The light was good and the sewing machine was set up. There were 8 steek stitches in the middle front of my sweater. Nine would have been better, I would have liked to cut down the middle of a stitch instead of between two. Not sure why. I have done this a few times. First time was with Elizabeth Zimmerman's fish trap sweater that I made for a neighbour boy. Just the sleeves. I have also done the hand sewing and the crochet method. Mixed results. This is sticky yarn, made for the purpose.

 My sewing machine is not the problem. I'm just a white knuckle sewer.

 My knitting circle friend, JudiB gave me the great advice to place tissue paper on the under side to keep the feed dogs from chewing up my knitting. That really made me feel more relaxed. No cerberus with his 3 heads chomping on my hard work.

 Then the cutting.... It was OK. It held. I also did the sleeves.

 It cut like butter.

 Here she is with her (now) two fronts.

 The checker board section is like a selvedge. I will sew it under after I pick up and knit the button bands and then the collar.

 Like this.

From the inside, it should look pretty finished. All the loose ends will be captured under the steek. I will sew on the sleeves last so I don't have to flop them around while I'm working on the front. The reality of this is bearing down on my like a steam engine. If I stop planning and just pick it up, my progress is much more successful.
For me, this is knitting on the edge.