Getting to good (when starting isn't a problem)

I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted the scarf to be like.

Debating between two patterns, I actually did the "good knitter" thing, and cast on samples of each.

My first was the one row handspun scarf pattern. With this "swatch", I am immoderately pleased, as I actually cast on enough stitches that the width was appropriate for a dishcloth (42 was, of course, the answer).

I next cast on an actual swatch (11 stitches) to test out a mistake rib pattern.

The one-row handspun pattern was the clear winner (in person, the columns of knit stitches are much easier to see). So I cast on 42 stitches in my scarf yarn.

No go - the colours of the yarn hid the knit columns too well. It was frogged. I retried with the mistake rib and 43 stitches (multiple of 4 +3). Not quite wide enough. It was frogged.

3rd try (charming, right?). 52 stitches, mistake rib, deep breaths. Finally it's looking right.

This is how I think knitting is supposed to work, often. 2 test swatches, 2 false starts, but finally an inch of progress on a scarf that looks promising. (Raveled.)

I have a major paper due this week, and the last thing I want is a lesson of this kind. Too late, I guess.

(Apologies for crap lighting on photos - it was late when I finished my learning).

WELL.

So, life was busy and normal, I was trying to blog and not *completely* failing. There were weddings, it was summer, but it was nothing I couldn't handle.

Then on a Friday morning I was waking up to that phone call that you never want to get. The one that tells you to come home. Now.

Em and I packed in a daze, and were on a flight, and I thought of nothing else for the week. It was so strange to be, by surprise, in the city we were going to be moving to in less than a month.

And yet, everyone survived (and we were forever changed, but not in the worst way). And summer continued.

And move we did, after yet another wedding. We moved so that I could start law school in the fall (of 2010, that is).

Here's the thing: law school, for me, has been all-consuming. And not in the good way. In fact, is there a good way?

This semester, I demand to recover, to pull myself back from the brink, and maybe (MAYBE) back to this blog-world into which I ever dream of entry.

Up there? That's my kitchen table, and a Saturday lunch, alone. To be fair, Em rushed through the door after I snapped this, full of joy to share a lunch. One look at her keys (the keys that were still needed, and she was off again to work. Yes, work!

Below? Is a reminder to myself that I am more than a law student - I am a knitter (yes that's more!) And even in my poverty-stricken state, I deserve yarn, and time with it.

I hope to be back in this space more regularly again this year, and I hope to have much more to share...