Simply Clever

I've been engaged in a bit of stealth knitting for the last few days. Isabel's 22nd birthday is coming up next week and there's been some bright blue BFL Sock yarn from Fleece Artist in my stash since last fall waiting for this. The weather having numbed my mind and senses to the point where I needed a knitting "holiday" (mindless knitting, in other words), I launched into a new Hitchhikers Scarf for the birthday event. Just in case you notice that I knit a lot of things in blue, it's because bright blue happens to be I's favourite colour. It's part of how I bribe negotiate all the modelling--she puts up with posing in alpaca in blistering hot weather or in a sleeveless vest in freezing temperatures in return for garments she will enjoy wearing.
The problem with stealth knitting is that it has to be done "stealthily". About ten minutes ago I cast off the aforementioned scarf. I did so whilst listening carefully for sounds of footsteps at our front door, signalling I's return from her morning classes at the university.  The scarf has been hastily hidden behind a trunk in the living room at such strategic moments, and now I'm wondering how on earth I'm to get it blocked without giving its existence away.
While I ponder that difficulty, let me show you some photos (thank goodness, I doesn't read the blog).

 

 

This is one of those pattern gems that is delightfully simple and brilliantly clever all at the same time. I think I wrote when I last made this that I was captivated by the little points--the increase at the end of the previous row creates just the right amount of peak to each turn. This is the very best sort of knitting!