I’d had this yarn for a while, about a year and a half now. It was so pretty, I never put the cone away, it lived on one corner of my desk. Every now and then I’d search Ravelry for the perfect pattern to use it for, and every time I didn’t come back with an answer.

Except, of course, the ubiquitous Clapotis. And I’ve made one of those. I don’t generally like knititng a certain pattern more than once, because there are only so many knitting hours in the day. And this was a special yarn, given to me by a pal in a swap. That parcel arrived the day I found out my childhood dog died, and the whole package cheered me up a bit that day.

It’s a beautiful thick-thin variagated yarn (ArtFibers Gold Chai) that needed a pattern that would show it off, probably something stockingette-y. I resisted the little voice that said: Hey, Clapotis is stockingette.

I really wanted to cast on with this yarn the other day. I thought about something from Knitting New Scarves, but all the ones I liked were so structural that I knew pure silk wouldn’t do them justice. I had the Clapotis pattern open in one tab, when I decided to look at Ravelry one more time. I don’t know what I searched for that was different, but I came up with the Gathered Scarf. And I knew. And then I cast on.

And I knit. And knit some more. It’s a great pattern for picking up and putting down, which is how  my knitting hours have been working out for the past week.

I’ve made some good progress picking up and putting down though. The pattern is just interesting enough, in that as I’m starting to get bored of stockingette, oh! A garter stitch section! And then as I tire of that, stockingette is back! And it suits the yarn so well, showing off texture and colour.

The bottom is ruffling, I’m starting to wish I had started with garter stitch, but I can live with that.

I’m really excited to wear it. Plus, using up this cone of yarn will put me at the ‘under 10km’ stash mark, which means I can buy yarn again! The 10km rule was something I imposed upon my self over a YEAR ago, and I’m ready to buy some yarn. I was at a yarn store yesterday (arranged a meet-up through Ravelry to sell some of my knitting books) and found some Shi Bui sock that really, really wanted to come home with me. But I stayed strong.

At least until the cone is gone.

PS:

The Stitch Marker Revolution is live! I’ll be adding more to the store tomorrow, and probably a long post here about them, but check out my store for a sneak peek! I tested them on this scarf, and if they don’t snag under-spun 100% silk, they won’t snag anything!