No home to go to .....

Things have been soooo hectic that I have missed knit night 3 weeks in a row - I was wondering if there was a knitting deity that I should ask forgiveness from, any one know? Something along the lines of - forgive me for I have not knit with my knit-sibs for over three weeks now. Even if I did make it to knitting, it appears our knitting group has no home right now, the University Link being closed in sympathy with the main university library closing at 6pm. Exams are over, students have gone, so they figure no one wants to be there at night, right? Wrong! We are temporarily decamping to various living rooms around town while we sort a larger and light venue to use. There are upwards of 20 of us on a good night, so we really need a suitable space. In the past we have tried pubs and cafes but those about town have small tables, and expect us to buy food and drink - not sit and talk and knit, and they usually have dim lighting. Thats ok when you are eating but when you try to knit ... dim is not good.

Today, things return to near normal, the end of year student show is over. My students are the Y3, and they had two sections in the show, photos are here, and here. See if you can spot the inflatible one, she is a Y3, that was amazing, pretty much most of it was amazing - but I'm biased. And before you ask, the student who had inflatible garments is already working in film and theater costumes and she wanted to showcase her inventiveness, any one need a clever costumer, I highly recommend Fi? But you visit me here for the knitting so in this post I've got a new project, you-know because when things get hectic I start new stuff (don't you?), and some progress on the top down steeked raglan.



I'm knitting wash cloths, two, cotton 4 ply, sportweight to those in the US, on 3mm needles. Using a stitch pattern I discovered on Ravelry, chinese waves, it really does look like the background stitch of a chinese embroidery, it also looks like a lattice pattern. Its nice, extra thick and squooooshy. I tried to make it reversible - but just ended up with reverse double fabric....purled on the outside. Maybe one clever than I can work out how to get reversible fabric with this stitch pattern on both sides. One of the reasons I liked it was it looks a little like the crook stitches in twined knitting, but uses only one thread.

I can live with this on one side and garter on the other, as it is soooo pretty. I think in bulky yarn on big needles this would make a pretty good thick light baby blanket. The yarn is Panda Regal 4 ply cotton - I've got another ball in pale blue and thinking it might be good just to knit two more and use it up.



And the top down raglan, well its all steeked and the edges finished. I used my favorite bound edging, from the Big Book of Knitting, and my favorite I-cord bind off. I like new stuff, but I also like my favorite techniques, I trust them but I do have a new trick for the i-cord. Finding in the past that I had to add an extra row every 4 or 5 rows to prevent it pulling in. Now I go up 2 needle sizes to knit the i-cord bind off. I work 4 extra rows at the corners - just to make them square.


And on the inside - look - nice and neat with all the cut edges finished. In the book this edging is used to hide a zip tape on the inside and to make a neat edge to the inside of a neckline - but I think it works just as well on a steek. I was a little worried about how thick it would end up, with 2 layers of knitting plus the steek ... but its fine. I did work the inside in stocking stitch, just to cut down on the bulk.



....which means I'm now knitting the sleeves, the first sleeve, then the next sleeve and it will be done. Thats a retro fake seam running down the side, I do like all those little finishing touches.

take care, knit some, rest some
na Stella