Tag Archives: hitchhiker

Silk garden hitchhiker scarf

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Noro’s silk garden has beautiful colors, but I guess hadn’t thought too much about how the colors cycled. They cycle slowly. Very, very slowly. So, as usual for me, I ended up with something that I like, but not quite what I had envisioned in my head.

I really liked the beginning (the narrow purple to yellow at the bottom in the right picture), but then a little light went off about halfway into the orange/red section – my stripes were going to get thinner and thinner as I went further into hitchhiker, because the pattern works by expanding each row (it’s a fantastic pattern, by the way!). I went through the usual Stages of Knitting, all done while still knitting away on the project:

1. Surprise (???)
2. Disbelief (But, but… It’s not possible that this yarn cycles through colors so slowly!)
3. Despair (Crap – This is going to be the goofiest looking hitchhiker scarf ever)
4. Anger (Why didn’t anyone tell me? Why did I ever think I liked this yarn?)
5. Wild Thoughts (I should just rip this all apart and pick a different project.)
6. Acceptance (I’m not wasting all this effort. I still like the colors. So, I get to have a stripy scarf.)

As it turns out, the stripes didn’t get as narrow as I thought they would (though only because I ran out of yarn). And I like the final result – using a thicker yarn makes it more snuggly than usual, and the stripes create an interesting effect when I wear it (because they are diagonal).

Hitchhiker

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Now that it has been revealed to its recipient, I can release pictures of the hitchhiker scarf that I’ve been working on. This was a lot of fun, though a bit “back-loaded” such that the rows get longer and longer in a kind of ever-lengthening tunnel of garter stitching. Luckily, I had picked a yarn that I loved and so it was fun to watch the patterns in the colors emerge:

This is a pretty light-weight scarf, so I needed to give it to my mom in the summer so that she can actually use it. (Ah, Vermont….)

 

Airplane knitting

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Greetings from Charlotte Airport! I’ve got an insanely long layover here on my way to France (!) for a conference. I’ve got a presentation for the Real World that I really need to get ready, but the 8-hour flight plus 4-hour layover still gives me plenty of time to knit, too. I’ve got two airplane projects: Another ruffle scarf  (Why yes, I do re-re-read my favorite books, too, thanks for asking!) and a NEW pattern (gasp!) – a very cool looking Hitchhiker scarf (LGT Ravelry).

Hitchhiker is up first, using sockyarn for the first time with teeny tiny needles. Okay, US 3 needles, which I know really only qualify as tiny OR teeny. Possibly toony. Definitely not tinny. BUT, I usually knit worsted weight (because I’m impatient and like immediate results) and so I feel like I’m knitting in miniature.

Though, at the moment I’m enjoying a beer. There is a local brewery that has a presence at Charlotte Airport that is almost  entirely unlike a pub. Still – I’m having a pint of Carolina Beer Company’s Blonde and planning to get some knitting in.