There’s no way I’m going to finish this before the end of winter, but I’ve been fiddling on with the knitting needles I dug out of the airing cupboard a couple of weeks ago. It took a long time to work out how to cast on, but once I had done – with some help from Stitch ‘n Bitch – the actual knitting bit came back fairly quickly.

Note the use of the word ‘fairly’.

How anyone – and here I’m thinking primarily of mothers and grandmothers – can click away through a night in front of the telly and turn out a jumper in a week, I don’t know. I’ve been at it for 10 days while watching stuff we’ve recorded and so far managed 12 cm. That’s less than half a foot.

And I’m not doing anything fancy, either. No pearling, no weaving in a pattern, no multi-coloured, multi-yarn creations. Just plain old black knitting.

If this is going to be a scarf it needs to be a good five feet long by the time it’s done, and at this rate that won’t be for 125 days (my calculator tells me). Or, in other words, 18 May. I won’t be needing a scarf any time around then.

Just as well this is a practice run, then. And, of course, it’ll keep until next winter.

At this rate it’ll need to.

Related posts:

1. Re-thinking that scarf
2. I’ve finished my scarf
3. A stash of retro knitting needles