Have you ever had one of the months where you’ve been pulled in all different directions?  I’ve been having a crazy couple of months (here’s hoping July slows down!) and I’m finding myself only working on semi-mindless, relaxing knits to distract myself. And using up my insane amount of sock yarn stash is a bonus.

Lately, I’ve been working on different shawl/scarves that are garter stitch with some neat construction to keep it interesting.  I wrote about my Color Affection a few weeks back.

I finished it (but I haven’t had a chance to take photos of the whole thing).  I really loved working on it.

When browsing the Knit Picks Lovers group on Ravelry, someone had mentioned the Hitchhiker shawlette.  When I looked it up, I knew I needed to make it.  Its asymmetrical, triangular shape and use of garter stitch has been the perfect project to work on right now.

I fell in love with the new Stroll Tonals that came out last month & when I had a skein of Harvest sitting on my desk all wound & ready to be knit up, it was fate.

While it’s all in garter stitch, it’s not quite a mindless knit.  It starts at one end & every few rows, you create cute little “teeth”.  So it takes slight concentration at each end, but it’s mainly just a relaxing project when my brain has been pulled in too many different directions.

I love how it’s turning out!  Another great thing about this pattern is the fact that you can bind off at anytime and have anything from a hankerchief to shawl, depending on the size of it. Plus, I love where the name came from – if you use 150g of yarn, you should have 42 teeth – the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything! (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference for those who don’t recognize it).  I only have 100g of my Harvest so I’ll see how many I can squeeze out.  I have 23 so far and I have a lot of yarn left – but of course, each row is getting much longer.  Fingers crossed!

Once I finish this I’ll probably end up starting another semi-mindless project in garter stitch.  I’ve been thinking about Turn Left by Terri Kruse (even if it won’t help me with my sock yarn stash) but I’d love some suggestions in the comments below!