Train Knitting

As you read this, I’m on the California Zephyr, rolling west to California from Utah. For the last 3 weeks, I’ve been on the road, driving from Maryland to Utah, then down to Arizona, then back to Utah and now to see Gwen in The Golden State. I’m looking forward to being in her home and talking about this blog, about Eduknit, and about our future plans.

Since I’m writing this on Sunday night in preparation for a train without wifi, I can’t tell you much about the scenery or the train experience itself, but I can tell you that I will be spending Monday watching movies on my computer, listening to audiobooks and finishing the last inches of what should have been a fairly quick project but that got away from me in this month of constant travel.

I’m really excited to publish the pattern, which was inspired by this clever weaving project. I replaced the woven rectangle with a knitted one and I think the resulting bag will be really sturdy and a handy size. Keep an eye out for the pattern this week.

It’s intarsia, but with a little bit of a twist, because the color changes are always in the same place and form vertical columns the entire length of the piece. It really wasn’t hard to manage. For me, the key to dealing with the yarns of intarsia is to relax and not worry about the mess. It really doesn’t matter. As long as you can keep the braided strands (that’s what’s happening to them as they twist around each other) on the wrong side loose enough, you can always get the yarns to pull through and be where you need them to be. It worked like a charm for this, and very seldom did I bother to untwist and undo the bits at the back.

It’s been fun to knit and I have no doubt that the last few inches, then sewing it into a bag will be the perfect Train Knitting. See you in California next week!