With double knitting under my belt, but the squares not yet all done, I embarked on a journey with Bilbo Baggins by knitting “There and Back Again”, a GORGEOUS pattern by Frivolite Handcrafts on Ravelry. It  follows the story of the Hobbit by JRR Tolkien.  My mom was a huge Tolkein fan as well and I decided to make it for her for Christmas that year. I mean it’s double knitting right? I’ve been doing that for months now, how different could it be?

My blanket squares used worsted weight yarn on size 7 needles and now I would virtually be doing laparoscopic surgery with lace weight yarn on size 0’s! And I was going to be knitting 850 rows. Minor details those….

Having absolutely NO idea how long it would take, I started in May to ensure I’d finish for Christmas.  I set a weekly goal of 25 rows (as I was in Grad school at the same time) and I marked the dates along the chart of where I should be each week to motivate me to stay on track. And though I ended up going faster than that, it was still a good check in.

It took me 4 ½ months but I finished with time to spare. My knitting group watched my  progress  and kept insisting that my mom was going to have to cry when I gave it to her.They saw first hand how many hours went into it (approx. 100!) and I think all knitters want fellow crafters’ work to be truly appreciated…

I, of course, told my knitting peeps “no more double-knitting for me for a while!”- you know, as you do- though I was still working on blanket squares. But of course before I even finished my blanket I dove into “I Have You Now”  for my husband, again by Frivolite Handcrafts. This is an amazing Star Wars inspired pattern that shows the space battle along the surface of the Death Star at the end of A New Hope.

I loved the contrast of these two designs. “There and Back Again” was like an illustrated map, with many small symbols highlighting all the major parts of the story. “I Have You Now” in contrast takes one snapshot that defines the larger subject matter. I loved both styles and I ended up putting a bit of both aspects in my first design.

I have to admit that this one went slower and took me 5 months to finish. The middle 8 or so pages of chart are nothing but geometric lines at right angles to each other (it is the Death Star after all). It was pretty “lacking in excitement” until you got to do the X-wing or the Tie-fighter. So I decided to just do 5 rows a day and then switch to something else after that to keep my attention.

My new Arkansas knitting group at The Yarn Mart  got to see this scarf take shape and also insisted on knowing what my husband’s reaction was at Christmas and if he would truly appreciate it….. Would he cry?!?!

Hehe, well…..my husband is rather stoic- so this was his ecstatic response for the camera. And I was very happy with that. I know he likes it and I even finished in time for him to wear it to opening night of “The Force Awakens”.

Due to my husband being told by a co-worker, also a knitter, that she would personally kill him if he ever lost it, “I Have You Now” has been reserved for nights out together where I can serve as a backup set of eyes to make sure it comes home with us. I’ve joked about sewing in a GPS tag, but this system works too 🙂