Pam Alison Knits

Hello, September… goodbye September. There were tranquil moments like the one captured above, but on the whole it felt like an extension of August with too much heat and too much lethargy. I packed a lot of things into it but they were nothing much to write home about. Or, indeed, to blog about. Now it’s October, the temperatures are down to apparently average levels, it’s windy, we’ve had actual rain, and there’s a suggestion that autumn might roll round sometime before November.

As September ambled to its close, I finally summoned up the enthusiasm to work on my latest cardigan. As usual, picking it up caused a surge of excitement and I raced through the back and the edgings, found perfect buttons in my Farrah’s Harrogate Toffee tin, and had a finished object in a trice. I am very pleased with it and I’m doubly pleased because it’s the first knitted piece in what I hope will become a “capsule” of garments that work cohesively together.

If I am really good, I will do a full post to document the garment for posterity. I’m slightly surprised at how much I like the wool I used, which is lucky because I’m using the left-overs to make what I have decided to call a “slipunder”, turning this into a slightly mis-matched variety of twinset. If I liked t-shirts they would be the perfect item to pair with jeans, skirts and cardigans, but I always find t-shirts disappointing. The plan is to make a knitted version and see how I like that. I’m using a good old Martin Storey pattern, but am going to make it without the sleeves to turn it into a lovely textured top that should provide the perfect base layer.

It’s in the very early stages and the jury is out on whether I have enough wool to make it. The cone pictured above has the smaller amount of the two cones I was using for the cardigan, so once I’ve finished this I’ll have a better idea. As to the “capsule”, I have a reasonable start. There’s a skirt which needs to be shortened, a pair of jeans which need the buttons moving so I don’t feel like they are going to fall down all the time, and a very serviceable cardigan.

Oh, and a splash of red.

(“A Splash of Red” is the title of a Jemima Shore novel by Antonia Fraser published in 1982. Readers of a certain age and British background may remember the TV series “Jemima Shore Investigates” starring Patricia Hodge. One of my inactivities in September was a re-watch of the series which I happened across on YouTube. I always wanted, indeed still want, Jemima’s wardrobe, although I now find her a slightly annoying character. In one episode she is gifted a bottle of my all-time favourite perfume, now long unavailable.)

My splash of red is one of September’s high spots. I have written before about my perfect, red Enny “softbag” from the late 1970s/early 1980s and how much I longed to find one again. I had a false start a few years ago when I bought what turned out to be a large red tote by the brand. I really like that bag, but I’ve never found it practical. I know you’re desperate to hear the story of my splash of red, so here goes.

I woke up one morning in late September feeling peculiar, and I wrote in my journal “The life I’m living now is itching like a skin I’m longing to shed.” I wrote “And I have the wrong pens inked with the wrong inks! Nothing feels right!” Then I wrote “Where is the bag that just magically works, however I feel like dressing, whatever I feel like wearing?”

When I finished my journal entry, I logged onto eBay, typed in “Enny bag”, chose “UK only”, all as I have done many times before. Almost the first thing I saw was the perfect duplicate of my old red bag and within four days it was in my eager hands. Now, often when we pursue something for an extended period of time we build up the level of perfection in our minds and we end up being disappointed if we ever obtain our heart’s desire. Not this time! The bag is in unbelievably good condition, it is not exactly the design I previously owned but it is the same size, the same colour, and has the same configuration of sections inside to organise the contents. Like my old bag, it is extremely comfortable to wear whilst fitting the things I want to carry. Neither too large, nor too small, it definitely meets the criterion of “the bag that just magically works”. I am besotted.

For the record, I also changed the pens and inks, and made a decision about the paper in my Filofax, but more on all that in my next post. For now I must say adieu and get on with the day.