Pam Alison Knits

Back in October all three of my Onoto pens were inked up and I took them to the London Pen Show then carried on using them as my main journal-writing pens. As always, the Custom was filled with Scribo Notturno Viola, whilst I used J Herbin Poussiere de Lune in the Christmas Carol. The two inks are not dissimilar and I thought this would be a good way to compare them. In the event, I wrote both of these dry during the final couple of weeks of the month. Then I’ve had Montblanc William Shakespeare Velvet Red in my Onoto/Fountain Pen Network ceramic Scholar for a while. I’ve carried that over into November so I can finish it up and let it have a rest. Although I’ve mainly been using it to write titles, dates, etc., I am now writing full journal entries in this deep red ink and they do not look the least bit out of place.

The Custom is back again for November, no suprise there as it has rarely been out of my lineup this year, and it is still doing sterling work on the quest to use as much of the Scribo ink as I can this year. I had intended to let the Christmas Carol sit out November and return in glory in December, but apparently I forgot about that when I had the inks out, so it, too, is in the month’s lineup helping to use up the Scribo ink.

There are, of course, other pens in the world and in my collection… indeed, even in my inked line-up for November! Starting off with two that I’m carrying into November from last month. First, the Kaweco Al-Sport in the glorious Iguana Blue. I’ve had this inked with J Herbin Rouge Caroubier for a little while, and I enjoy this combination a lot. Rouge Caroubier is a brighter, pinker red than the Velvet Red in my Onoto, but I like both shades immensely (otherwise why would I have inked up both at the same time?). I used this one for some of the elements when setting up the diary pages in my traveler’s notebook, but I also pick it up for quick notes, most recently to jot down some calculations for my knitting.

Also being pressed into service in the traveler’s notebook diary pages is the Faber-Castell Neo which I’ve got inked with a nice bright green – Graf von Faber-Castell’s Viper Green. When I set up the pages, I used this to rule lines and I found the fine nib and this ink gave me lines which were bright enough to add structure, but fine enough to keep from overwhelming the page. I also enjoyed writing with this one at my writing group in October; it’s a great workaday pen which I don’t use quite as much as I could do.

All of which means that there’s only actually one truly fresh pen being inked for November, one pen which hasn’t been out of the pen case for a few months now. It’s the Lamy Studio. I was looking for an extra-fine nib to use as my main daily driver with the traveler’s notebook and the aquamarine colour of this pen looks wonderful with the turquoise leather of the journal cover. More importantly, I needed a Goldilocks ink to please my eye against the dot grid pages of the diary. Graf von Faber-Castell’s Gulf Blue proved too pale. Waterman’s Mysterious Blue lacked the zing I needed. In the end I ran back to Waterman’s Inspired Blue, pretty much my all-time favourite ink and one which, paired with the Lamy extra-fine nib, is giving me exactly what I need on my diary pages.

One final shout-out to the Parker Debutante. As I mentioned previously, I wanted to try it with a basic blue ink and I’ve chosen Diamine’s Kensington Blue which seems to suit it quite well. Not, perhaps, a forever pairing, but a pretty solid match nonetheless.

All of this is giving me a pretty line-up for November, plenty of bright colours to add some light to the darker mornings, though actually hereabouts the mornings have been beautifully misty. One of the pleasures of living quite close to the river is I often get misty mornings even if the rest of the city is enjoying sunshine. I love to look out of my windows at the milky horizon with the apricot sun just beginning to break through and the trees fading out of sight as the mist cloaks them. Just what you need to inspire you to set pen to paper.