A Flurry of Activity

After the huge blow that was the loss of the WRS, I have been knitting for reassurance. Wanting to reassure myself that I am not a complete wombat (no offence to any wombats who may be reading), I have embarked upon a myriad of small projects that can be rattled off in no time.

Ravelry has a lot to answer for, of course. I had some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (part of which I used for the Flower Basket Shawl, if you remember) in stash. I wanted to knit something with the four balls of pink yarn remaining. Ravelry came up trumps with pictures of Catmum's Saxon Braid Scarf. This is the pattern that is featured on the cover of Nicky Epstein's book "Knitting on the Edge" I haven't got the book and I'm not looking to spend £13.97 (this is about $28US at present) for one scarf pattern. I have, however, got Barbara Walker's Charted Knitting Designs and lo! there we find on page 86, a chart for the "Saxon Braid". This is 28 stitch pattern repeat. We need some sort of an edging, so I decided to use the double slipped stitch edging that Annie Modesitt uses in her Backyard Leaves Scarf in Scarf Style - this uses 3 stitches. Then I decided I'd like a fringe (as in the original) and found a free pattern by Nicky Epstein which uses a drop stitch technique to form an integral fringe. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that this is the self-same technique used for the original Saxon Braid Scarf. This uses 7 stitches. So I cast on 28+3+7, a total of 38 stitches and bashed on with the scarf. (By the way, the original pattern is full of errors apparently. Go here for some of them - or you could just do what I did and wing it.)



Just before I started the fourth (and final) ball of yarn, I decided that a sort-of matching hat might be a good idea. I settled on Coronet from Knitty (also after seeing it on Ravelry).



I made the cable band in pink and the remainder of the hat in the aubergine colour (left over from the Flower Basket). Hope I don't scare you too much with this picture of me (taken with the self portrait setting of the camera, since I was alone at the time).



Oh, and if anyone has not yet come across the Walker Treasury Project, you want to go and have a look - it is a marvellous resource for any serious knitter.

There's been other knitting; there's been yarn buying; there's been book buying; but all this will have to wait because I need to get back to work.