Natalie's Hitchhiker

I loved the Hitchhiker pattern so much I made Natalie knit one too.  Don't judge me too harshly, it was for a good cause.  One of Natalie's co-workers is moving to Minneapolis and I thought with the colder Minnesota weather she would need a nice scarfy thing.  I also happen to know her co-worker, like me, loves the color green.  I knew I had a "vintage" Dyeabolical Yarn skein of Derby Girl, which just so happens to be a green and black colorway.  It was one of the first balls of Dyeabolical Yarn I bought.  That said I had yet to knit something fabulous with it.  I knew it would make a stunning Hitchhiker, I also knew I was not going to have the time to knit it.  When I came to Natalie with the yarn and the pattern she saw the wisdom of my suggestion.  I was so right that colorway made a stunning Hitchhiker.  Natalie has not taken it to work yet for her co-worker, trying hard not to steal the finished project for myself.

Sweet Hitchhiker

Knitters are just like any other group, when friends knit a pattern we often find ourselves wanting to knit it too.  The Hitchhiker by Martina Behm is one of those pattern up there with the Clapotis (yup knit 2 of those) and the Central Park Hoodie (not yet) for knit popularity.  I checked on Ravelry.com and the Hitchhiker has been queued 22,541 times.  The pattern runs about 500 yards of yarn per finished project, if you do the math on that it is over 6000 miles of yarns or about the distance between St Louis MO and Hawaii, but I digress. 

I wanted to knit a Hitchhiker for myself.  I had bought the yarn for the project on the yarn crawl last summer and I just need to do it.  With all the holiday knitting and crocheted owls done, it was time to knit that Hitchhiker.  I used a brightly colored DK weight cotton yarn and size 6 needles. I found after awhile I got a little addicted to knitting the points on the pattern. The pattern calls for 42 points or teeth on one edge of the pattern. (For the Douglas Adams fans out there, yes both the pattern name and the number of points are in reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.)  As is often the case, I knit mine large and added a few extra teeth, because I had the yarn.

Rocking my Hitchhiker

After I started on mine I decided Natalie needed to knit one too, because that is what we knitters do, share a fun pattern.  We also have a friend getting ready to move to Minnesota and I thought she could use a warm neck wrap.  I knew I had some old school Dyeabolical yarn in a fun green and black color way which would be perfect for this pattern.  Pretty much I said knit this pattern with this yarn and Natalie did.  Both Hitchhikers turned out great, but it is amazing how much different they are.  Mine is a little largish and her Hitchhiker is a little smallish, but both are fabulous.

Natalie's Black & Green Hitchhiker

You would think I would be done with the Hitchhiker, but no, not me.  I actually can't wait to knit up another.  However, right now I have moved on to a large green poncho.  I don't think I can convince Natalie one of those, but you never know.