amimono no monogatari: Sometimes you just need to do it yourself

Since I've been traveling a lot, I realized that I needed a travel tray; something to hold my watch and other little knick knacks that I like to keep with me by my bedside. I had seen all these amazing leather ones but, they were too thick (I didn't want to add anymore weight to my luggage than I already needed to with all of my work clothes); then there were material ones ... But, none really called to me. So, I asked my sewing friend if she would make one for me; and she did! ☺️ It was beautiful and even had a secret pocket! The only thing was that it was the size of a Kleenex box! It was way too big. 😒 So, what's a girl to do? Sometimes, you just need to do it yourself if you want it just right. And, that's exactly what I did: Rummage through my yarn stash, found some mystery yarn (nothing I'd regret using (or losing)) and proceeded to search Raverly to find a travel tray pattern I could use as a guide. I found this. It was exactly what I was looking for. And, it would stretch my skills because it was double knitted.

I looked up what double knitted actually meant and thought: "Eh, it doesn't need to be double knitted, I'll just double up the yarn since it was lace weight anyways." and merrily casted on 80 sts using my Chiaogoo US7 needles. It didn't look too big when I first started but grew rapidly after a few rows. It actually started to grow to the same size as my material one! 😒🤦 So, I do what I do best: I ripped it out and stared again. I thought: "Hmmm ... Maybe I should use larger needles and less stitches ... 🤔" So, with the yarn still doubled, I casted on 60 sts using my Chiaogoo US9 needles. Again, it started to grow. 😒🤦 More ripping ensued.

It looked like perhaps double knitting really was the way to go. 🤦🤔 So, I tried it with just my red yarn. But, it was so hard to figure it out because 1) I didn't know what I was doing and 2) it was hard for me to remember which one was for which side. More ripping ensued again.

I finally gave in and found another colour to use so I could tell which side was which. Casting on 56 sts, using my Chiaogoo US9 needles, I knitted 6 rows then "tacked" it together every 3 sts, then did another 6 rows, tacked it (again) every 3 sts (offset from the last tacked row), and repeated this four times then bound off. Instead to adding buttons or snaps to hold up the sides, I decided that ties would be better as I could always use the tray as "bubble wrap" if I had something small to bring home. Since the tray was squarish, I decided that I would make ties on 2 sides and loops for the other side. I looked up various ways on how to make the ties and settled on a fish braid pattern.

Here's what my finished tray looks like: