I haven’t had a FO Friday project to share in many months, but I’m happy to say that I have one today.

Ta Dah! My Hitchhiker Shawl is completed.

I knitted it out of three skeins of my own hand-spun BFL, from Frabjous Fibers.

The yarn was a two-ply of two different variegated colorways: Cathedral (the colorful one) and Potash (whites to dark grays). Of course, the colors are what really pop out, but it was interesting to see how subtle changes in the Potash colors made the Cathedral colors appear differently.

Good heavens, I knew this yarn would turn out stripey, but I had no idea how stripey. Now I’m prepared for what I’m going to see with all of the chain-plied yarns I’ve been experimenting with. It would be very interesting to see these same colorways spun up as a three- or four-ply, with perhaps two strands of Cathedral and one or two of Potash. We’d get more mixing of the colors. I wonder if  I’d like that better or not. Alas it’s moot as I have no more Cathedral on hand (although I do have another bundle of Potash…).

This pattern is so easy to knit. I knitted this at Pints and Purls after a glass of beer, I knitted this in the car at near-twilight, I knitted this in a rage when I had to get away from my school work for a while –all with no discernible ill effect.

One other thing I love: it’s all garter stitch and doesn’t need blocking. Hah! I don’t really mind blocking, but I don’t take particular pleasure in it either. All that bending over the futon. Hurts my back just thinking about it.

One other accomplishment I’m proud of: I knitted this whole shawl (well, most of it) using a new technique for holding the yarn in my right hand. By the time I was done with this shawl, I had started to knit with that technique naturally. It felt right and comfortable. Sadly, this comfort disappeared entirely when I picked up my next, more complicated project. I reverted to my old ways without realizing it. Gack!

Related articles

• Hand Spun Yarn Becomes Hitchhiker Shawlette (all-she-wants-to-do-is-knit.com)