Using what you have

(And copying Amy).

Last weekend, reading some of the archives of blogs I've recently discovered, I read Amy's post about making challah every Friday with Jacob, and, suddenly, wanted to eat challah more than anything in the world. My dad's family are Jewish, and while my granny didn't make us challah every week in the way she did chicken soup and kneidlach, it still reminds me of her kitchen, her stories, and her love. So when I spied some challah while buying sandwich ingredients the next day, I carried it lovingly home and ate half of it all by myself, drinking a cup of tea, writing knitting lists and making plans.

And then, I noticed the little plastic tag that held the bread bag closed, and I remembered reading this post, and wishing that I had a little bobbin like that, and inspiration struck!

From knot...


... to neat.


Thank you, Amy! - for your advice on the Conwy socks, and the inspiration.


PS Happy Birthday to any leaplings!

Perseverance

Something else I hoped to find in the Workbasket.

This yarn, a present from Laura over a year ago, had been sitting in the basket as a bundle of swatches since I started medical school, mostly because I found reading the Conwy pattern quite confusing. But, New Year's resolutions aboard, I reread the pattern and sternly reminded my imperious inner perfectionist that making mistakes and starting again is better than knitting nothing at all.

I wound up the other skein last Thursday night and began the sock on the train on the way to Bournemouth, picking it up again on the way back on Sunday, very sleepy and thinking that I really ought to be reading some neuroscience. On the bus on Monday I realised I'd made a mistake, so back into the basket it went.


Last night I ripped back to the mis-twined cable and worked on it for a bit after supper before going back to my revision... only to find on putting it down again that I'd sailed merrily on way past the first decrease rows.


Post-it note, strategically-placed safety pin, Kipling in mind, tea. Let's hope this works.

Bournemouth Pier Scarf

D is studying in Bournemouth this month, so we spent some of the weekend on the beach!


Pattern: based on Saartje's striped Noro Kureyon scarf. I rewound the yarn from the So Called Scarf complete with my imperfect splicings into two roughly equal-sized balls, cast on 42 sts and knit in 1 x 1 rib, alternating two rows from each ball, until I ran out of yarn. I used the round cast-on and cast-off explained in the Henry pattern because I didn't want too firm an edge, but they splayed out too much so I used the ends to draw them in a bit as I wove them in.
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden colour 8, 3 balls I think. At least I know I bought three balls and I couldn't find a third one, so I am assuming I spliced it into the Rightly Called Mess scarf. I could use my kitchen scales to weigh it to double check, but they are about as precise as I am.
Needles: 4 mm Susanne's rosewood circ from Scottish Fibres
Dimensions: 138 cm x 13 cm
Via the Workbasket? Unquestionably

This scarf is quite a lot shorter than I would normally wear (or knit!) but to my surprise, I like it. I didn't block this, just gave it a good soak, a normal spin rather than the gentle one I usually use for woollen things, and draped it along the top of the radiator overnight so I could wear it the next day. It's good to have a WIP out of the Basket, and a new scarf is a treat.

Project Workbasket's first foray

Right, first up in our catalogue of ripping yarns is the Self-Striping So-Called Scarf, in Noro Silk Garden. I bought three balls of this colourway along with the yarn for Mum's Lady Eleanor because I loved the mini swatch I saw on the internet, and then cast around looking for a pattern. A little while later I was reading through the archives of a wonderful blog I'd recently discovered (do you do that too?) and found this. Hurrah! Same yarn, a pattern I'd wanted to knit for ages, and all the worrying about whether it would work or not done for me. In theory.

I'm still sometimes surprised to see how colour can change - everything. I'm learning that this one of the loveliest things about knitting: discovering how a chosen pattern can be transformed not only by a different yarn, but also in another colour. I loved Ashley's scarf, and I'd happily be wearing it today, but this one isn't working out, is it?


It's a great pattern, I still like the yarn, but they're wasted on each other, as I realised about five minutes after posting about it.



Better, I think. Not perfect, but good enough. And at the moment, good enough is plenty good enough for me.

(Sorry about the light. It is dark before I get home, and will be for weeks).