When the Cat's Away...

At the end of May, we took in a cat that was apparently abandoned. We couldn't keep her because of Troy's allergies, but we really enjoyed her cuteness while we had her.

Her cuteness was enough for me to forgive her inability to resist my yarn, but only because I knew it was for the short term. (Well, and because she was just so adorable.) On this occasion, she repeatedly pounced on my lap to attack the yarn ends as I tried to finish my skirt:

Again, I could live with it in the short term, but this week when she went to her "forever home", I had a real sense of release. I could work on anything! I could leave it out! I could spin! I could wind yarn! I could knit! Unfortunately, I've had meetings both nights since she's been gone so I haven't had time for these things, but I could!

One thing I started this week was a kerchief out of some linen that I raveled from a sweater. (I tried to wear it because it was a nice summer cardigan, but it was a size too small.) I was a well behaved knitter and made a swatch:

The lower portion was on 2.75mms and the upper part on 2.00mms. Of course I liked the fabric made on the smaller needles so the project is going to take a lot more knitting. But if using them makes an end product that I like, it will certainly be worth it.

I had decided to do something with the linen because I wanted to have a project I could work on during a camping trip next week. ("Car camping", so nothing where I have to limit the weight I'm carrying or anything.) To me, linen was a much better choice than something in wool.

I've have spent some time looking for a pattern, but I never found one that had all the elements that I wanted. So I am going to make it up as I go.

I looked up how to make different shawl shapes and found this article on Craftsy very helpful. The "wider, shallower triangle" was the closest shape to what I had in mind so that is what I'm going for.

I started with 5 stitches cast on over a double loop of the yarn end. That way I can cinch up the yarn end and have a "seamless" start. (Similar to how I start hats, but in this case I would work flat instead of in the round.)

It looks pretty good, I think.

I then started my increases along the centre line and edges while working a little stockinette stitch and then a simple mesh lace stitch:

I hope to end up with an elongated triangle scarf or kerchief with stockinette and mesh stripes. At first I thought the stripes would have varying widths, but now I think I'll keep them all the same. We'll see...