and there was rejoicing

I found my missing skein of Yarn Yard Marchmont!

I found it while I was looking for something else (pesky needle gauge - so useful but vanishes all the time) and in a bag that I swear I had already looked in six or seven times. But who cares how it managed to hide itself from me for all this time, I've found it now and can go on with my Kirkja shawl!  Once I've finished the various things I've been working on in the meantime that is..

My Hitchhiker scarf for one - 36 points out of 42 completed now, yay! I noticed some people on Ravelry called this a quick easy knit, but, easy though it is, I haven't found it at all quick. I think the problem is that I so rarely use garter stitch that I'm not very skilled at resolving any minor mistakes - picking up a dropped stitch that had run for example. I had to figure that out with the help of Youtube and it took forever. It seems it was just a problem I'd never encountered before - or not since learning to knit at school, when all disasters were quickly resolved by our knitting teacher - and I struggled to get my head round it.  Still, I know now.

Today I was trying to do a provisional cast-on for the first time, again with the aid of videos. I've always managed to avoid provisional cast-ons so far but the pattern I was trying out called for it and I told myself I ought to learn for the sake of it. Urgh. Well, that was a frustrating hour or two. It's not so much the cast-on itself as getting the first actual row (or round, in this case) going properly when the stitches are on 'waste yarn' that suddenly resembles a snakeskin made of shredded rubber. Again, at least I've learned from it. Though mostly what I've learned is that I haven't much patience and will no doubt continue to avoid provisional cast-ons as much as possible (hey, half the time they aren't really necessary). Self-knowledge, I haz it.