those Celts, good at all kinds of knots.

Just weeks before Christmas, my lovely husband mentioned that he'd like to have a hand-knitted scarf. I know -- married to a knitter and he tells her weeks before Christmas! Drop the hints in June! But I did decide I had a chance of pulling it off before Valentine's Day, so I started hunting down a pattern.

A pattern? For a scarf? Exactly why I felt like I had to explain, when I asked for one in the Alexandria yarn store, that I wasn't crazy, I just wanted to try cables. They mentioned something I'd just come across on the internet, so I decided to give that a try.

As with basically all of my knitting/crochet/craft projects, something went wrong the first time. The yarn I'd chosen was less subtley variegated than I'd thought, and with the cable pattern, the effect was rather dizzying.



So I went to my favorite DC yarn store and tried again, this time with great success. Thank you, Blue Sky Alpacas for your lovely yarn. Really, I could almost eat it. All you want to do is nuzzle into it until you fall asleep (perhaps its only detriment as a craft ingredient).



The pattern, which I thoroughly enjoyed working, is actually a very simple one. It's called the Irish Hiking Scarf, and I believe credit is due to Adrian Bizilia of Hello Yarn.



The color is slightly less rosy than in the above picture. It's technically natural medium tan. And as for the weight and warmth, it is just perfect for a scarf and for this pattern (at least as I knit it on 4.25 needles). My Stitch 'n Bitch book has an amusing little note in it that says something like, "Warning: do not make a sweater out of pure alpaca! It is too warm!" And I can see how that would be true, especially if, like us, you don't live in the Yukon Territory.

Here's the finished project - in a rare moment when it was not being worn! I'm told it's very cozy. :)



And now I'm off to join the knitalong!