Hitchhiking in the sun

A new yarn for us this spring is Soleil from Katia, from sunny Spain.

It is a cotton and acrylic mix with 750 meters or 820 yards in 200 grams. This means an astonishing 187 meters per 50 grams. I enjoy the way Katia provides a tag for the starting point, very thoughtful, and most helpful.

A knitter can make a size 14 summer top that weighs only 200 grams. If I were to use lovely Drops Muskat DK, for example the same top could weigh up to 600 grams, as a typical cotton dk  has 100 to 110 meters per 50 grams.

It is a simple, logical, ingenious yarn, made of 4 strands, so it goes; 4 strands yellow -- 3 strands yellow and 1 green -- 2 strands yellow and 2 strands green -- 1 strand yellow and 3 strands green etc, etc through a colourful cycle.

I decided to make the classic, "cognitively delightful" pattern Hitchhiker by Martina Behm. This is a diagonal/asymmetrical shawl with a stepped edge. It is one of the most knitted patterns on Ravelry. There are 42 points, because the number 42 is "The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything", making this project a cosmic one.

It has been the best thing to knit while watching "Last Chance to See" with Mark Carwardine and Stephen Fry on Netflix, Their late friend Douglas Adams wrote "A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", the excellent book honoured by Martina's scarf, as well as the original book "Last Chance to See". I like to add a marker every 10 points so I can focus more on the knitting, and less on the counting.

This is colour number 100. I chose it because of Spring, the luscious yellow start promised good cheer, and by golly it delivered. It is May now so we do have in fact, vibrant, almost juicy green and yellow in our garden.

I have knitted through the yellow, the green and now turquoise with blue advancing, pet colours of mine because they remind me of the beautiful Caribbean sea.

And my beloved hammock by Sea to Summit, a gift from my mom.

So I am knitting and knitting, now at point 34, and my goodness, I still have 112 grams left. Amazing!