Life Is Like A Grapefruit

Sometimes, it takes someone else to tell me to knit something. Hitchhiker is an incredibly popular shawl/scarf pattern by talented German designer Martina Behm. There are spinoff hat and mitts, variations on the slanting theme, and over 5000 Hitchhikers knitted on Ravelry. Then sillyfru of the Sassypants Knitter podcast started a KAL. I had this fabulous Sweet Georgia yarn in my stash that I've been wanting to use, so I went for it.

And I love it!

It's a quick, addictive knit and very rewarding in lots of ways.

You start at one corner and knit back and forth, increasing until it's time to make your first tooth (of 42). Achievement! Reward, please.

So you make another one. the rows gradually get longer.

You make another one. And another.

And before you know it, you're happily knitting endless rows just to finish one more tooth. Fabulous.

It also doesn't hurt that this is an immensely wearable scarf with its long, tapered points and squishy garter stitch centre.

I love looking at it all layed out, seeing the variegated yarn move around as the rows change how the colours pool.

All in all, one of the great wins of knitting. There's a reason why this pattern is popular. Go knit one. You'll love it.

Cloudy Days

The last of the Stephen West shawl club patterns, and it's a cutie.

The perfect project to bust some stash.

I'm using my leftover Another Crafty Girl in Squirtle, a colour I am insanely in love with, paired with leftover Wollmeise in Feldmaus. I didn't think I had enough yarn to complete the project, but I was hoping for wool magic.

Well, it didn't happen.
Fortunately, through the magic of Ravelry, I found some more Feldmaus in a destash, but unfortunately, it's much darker than what I had (and somehow not as pretty. It's much more mouse brown than nest brown).
But I could finish the shawl, and it's very wearable. It's really more of a sideways scarf, actually. It goes perfectly with a brown felt beret that is an autumn/winter staple for me.

Photography Friday - In Deep Snow

You wish you were here. Wearing a fabulous hand-knitted mask and enjoying knee-deep powder snow on a bluebird day.

Admit it. You do.

Long Scarf is Long

 There is a time in every knitter's life when they become confident in their mad skillz and want to show them off to the world.
Usually a while before they have any actual skills.
I'm no different, so I was thrilled when Mr. Mechanicalpenguin (aka the man in my life) asked me to knit him a scarf.
Not just any old scarf, but a scarf of awesome nerdery.
A Longcat Scarf.
if you don't know what a longcat is, I recommend you get out from under that internet rock you've been living under and prepare to waste a day (or week) on icanhascheezburger.com. Go on. I'll wait.
How was it?
That's right. The place where hilarious kitten photos and bad grammar birth internet memes is also the source of longcat, the perfect scarf adornment.
This scarf not only proclaims one's nerdery to the wider world, it also came with a new (to me) technique: double knitting.
Double knitting basically produces a double-sided, reversible fabric by alternating knits and purls with two yarns at the same time.
Once you get into the rhythm, it's surprisingly addictive, if rather slow going.

I knit most of the scarf in the car to and from the snow on our annual trip to Mount Hotham, our home mountain, for a weekend of skiing and snowboarding.
The scarf is made from cheap acrylic yarn, so it's not overly warm, but Mr. Meachanicalpenguin proclaimed it perfect, and proceeded to wear it to work the day after it was finished.
Success!