Adventures in 4-ply

For my next project, I'm using these:

The book is Vintage Knitwear for Modern Knitters, and the yarn is Angora 4-ply from Orkney. 

4 ply angora turns out to be easily broken and not so easily unravelled. Here is the beginning of my tension swatch: 

As the yarn had already broken twice by this point (and also it's a scarf, so tension isn't a massive issue) I decided to ditch the tension swatch and get stuck right in. 

Although it's actually a simple garter-stitch scarf with just a bit of shaping, it has been difficult! Partly self-inflicted, admittedly, as the pattern wanted me to use 3 needles and I didn't want to spend the £2.50 on a second pair of needles the same size, so I tried to do it using a stitch holder. 

Big mistake. 

Anyway, I invested the extra £2.50 and a lot of time (no really, a lot) unravelling, swearing and fixing and now the project is moving along nicely in the way it would have done if only I'd have done it properly in the first place.