A Magic Hem

How could I resist?  For days and days it spoke to me.  It called my name.  Finally, temptation won and I am the proud owner of  Woolfolk Tynd.  This is not a yarn to languish in the stash for "some day."  Oh, no.  It is a "cast on right now and get to it" kind of yarn.  So I did.

I thought and thought about the pullover that it wanted to be.  At first, a basic top down raglan with vertical bands of twisted stitches seemed like the way to go.  Subtle but worth a second look.  That plan is now in reserve for the future. 

Working in the round was the goal.  And something that would not require too much attention so that it could be public knitting.  Well, gentle reader, this is a story about what happened to the yarn.  Or is it a yarn with a story? 

There I sat, cakes of yarn, needles and an idea popped into my noggin' - Judy Becker's Magic Cast On is actually a folded hem just waiting to happen.  Now, I am making a bottom up sorta tee shirt that will probably have simple lace at the top.

This is the end of four rounds of the Magic sitting there ready to become a knitted hem.  Please know that I worked the front and back separately so that there will be a little vent on each side of the hem.

Rather than making a humongous sock toe, I worked a k2tog all the way across.  This joined the two rows of stitches into one band that magically became the hem.

Can I hear a Voila!  You will note that the yarn is a deep merlot/berry shade and I simply could not face making a traditional folded hem where one is forced to actually sew the foldy up part to the knitting stitches which just happen, in this case, to be dark and tiny (well, a size US 6 tiny) and make no mistake in 115 stitches and then do the exact same perfection to make the other panel and well. . . . I just could not do it. 

 Here it is.  Judy's Magic Hem.  Surely others have done this.  I can't be the only one to have an inspirational moment.  So, I'll not take credit for the brilliance. 

After making the first hem, I make a second that (I am pleased to report) is exactly like the first.  Everything was slid onto one needle and joined to work in the round.  Now, there is just round and round of stockinette to be done until a second color decides to join the merriment.  Public Knitting project accomplished!