There is a Pinterest board that I follow called ‘Yarn‘ by user Viola Bow that showcases yarn from around the internet, with a great focus on indie dyers and Etsy shops, as well as larger companies. If you’re always looking for fresh yarn options I highly recommend. Through her, I discovered See Jayne Knit, and immediately fell in love.

Shown are 2 very similar colour ways; ‘Tut Tut, Looks Like Rain‘ and ‘Sand and Sea Glass‘. I bought sock and lace weight (perhaps another featherweight cardigan?) and I loved them even more in person. I especially love that she ties a little stitch marker to each skein – so cute!

What’s the best pattern to showcase such gorgeous, variegated yarn? After angsting over my decision on Ravelry I settled on the gorgeous Henslowe by Beth Kling (of whom I’m a huge fan; I’ve also made Jackson Square, and I’ve got my eye on Loie). I’ve made Henslowes twice before, and gave both away as gifts, I figured it was time for my own.

A gift for Leslie

A gift for Tito’s mom; modelled by Leslie ;)

In other words, I am no Henslowe rookie. I cast on, aimed for 64 yarn overs (thanks to the generous 500 yards in her sock yarn skeins) and cast on. This thing flew off the needles in no time. Helped in no small way by how gorgeous and addictive the yarn was.

And I love how it looks with my resin jewelry – perfection!

But then comes the bind off. I’ve done this before, I know what’s coming. I know that Henslowe is so beautiful that it’s all worth it in the end… but somehow that never helps.

I feel like this took me an hour. And after a Lord of the Rings marathon? It looked like this:

I mean, is there any progress at all there? Can you tell? Spot the difference? I feel like I’ve entered a knitting time warp. I shall persevere though, because it’s working out to be one cool, wet summer and I really want this shawl!

What about you ? What patterns never seem to end but are totally worth it? What do you do to make knitting go faster? A stiff drink seems counter productive, and you can’t run on a treadmill and knit (I’ve tried, I put my yarn cake in the drink holder, huge mistake). Ideas?