As yarn shows start to come back again after their enforced closures, I have been thinking about the questions we are regularly asked at our stand. You are probably no doubt aware of our love for self-striping yarns and Schoppel Wolle Zauberball and Zauberball Crazy always seem to catch the eye of visitors to shows. After a customer has selected their perfect colourway, I’m commonly asked, “What can I make with this?” For a while I used to reply that these yarns are great for anything, but it was politely pointed out to me that I was perhaps not being at all helpful…

These days I can show off samples to demonstrate the versatility of the yarns and then I usually finish by saying, “Of course, you could always make a shawl. I don’t have one to show you though.”

I am the cause of my own downfall on a regular basis, so when I told Jen I thought we should have a shawl in a self-striping yarn for shows, she threw me a Zauberball Crazy, some needles and told me to get on with it! The challenge then was what to make.

After almost no deliberation, I decided to go for Martina Behm’s Hitchhiker. The reason is quite straightforward: it is my recommendation to anyone who asks me for a straightforward pattern for a knitter who has the absolute basic set of skills. It is a perennially popular pattern, and for good reason.

So how has it been for the guy who usually makes swatches or partial samples, that take no more than a few hours work, in aran weight?

Well…

The first thing to say is that it is simple and repetitive. For me, that is a good thing: I don’t need to carry a pattern with me. There is a pleasing rhythm to working the repeats. The only risk is that I get carried away and a section ends up too big.

Secondly, it feels slow at first. Yes, I know it should, because 4ply is so much lighter than aran, but the first couple of hours seemed to generate almost no fabric.

Third, it gets quicker. As I got used to the flow of the repeat sections, the area of fabric per hour increased markedly. I put this down to the fact that as you go through, more of the work is simply garter stitch and I can race through that.

Finally, and probably most importantly, it looks fantastic!

The gradual fading of one colour combination to the next works just as well in a shawl as it does in a pair of socks. It’s a relief, but not a huge surprise that the pattern I have recommended countless times turns out to be ideal. Yes, there are more challenging patterns available, but Hitchhiker hits the sweet spot of being simple enough to work without concentrating too hard, yet interesting enough to keep you coming back for more.

I didn’t manage to get it finished before Jen headed off to Sweater Weather at Farnham Maltings two weeks ago, but it did get done in time for Yarndale, which is happening this weekend.

If you’d like to make your own Hitchhiker, you can find the pattern on Martina’s website, or Ravelry. We have plenty of choice of Zauberball Crazy colourways, and my Hitchhiker was knitted in the Garden Party colourway.

Happy knitting!