When our newest yarn, Lindy Chain, arrived at the office, it was love at first sight. The gorgeous colors! The cool crispness of the fiber! The way it seemed to shine and glow!  I was so excited, I had to sit down for a bit. Once I recovered, I realized I had the perfect pattern for this yarn all queued up- the lovely and classic Strathcona, by Jane Richmond. It’s from her book Island. Now, I love me some Jane Richmond. Her patterns are so clearly written, and she always has a great ratio of stitch pattern to plain knitting. Plus her designs are just so Pacific Northwest to me: casual, cozy, and earthy, yet modern and sophisticated.

Living in the NW, I wear scarves year-round, usually as a way to brighten up an outfit with color or a pattern, and I realized I had no neutral-colored scarves AT ALL. This shocking omission needed to be remedied. So when I saw the warm gray of Gosling (reminding me irresistibly of this dearly-departed meme), I decided that this was it, a match made in knitting heaven. So I cast on, and knit. And knit. And KNIT! I’d forgotten how long fingering-weight scarves take to make, but thankfully the mesh stitch was easy to memorize and the small size of the project meant it traveled well. It even fit neatly into my pannier as I rode over McKenzie Pass in central Oregon, where I paused at the top to do a few celebratory rows. 

I did miss the errata posted on Ravelry, so my left leaning garter stitch panel isn’t quite as wide as the right one, but I blocked it closely enough that when it’s being worn you can’t tell. (Ravelry page for this project is here, if you’re interested.)

And how was the yarn? Awesome! It stayed so cool slipping through my fingers as I knit, even in a hot car, and the resulting fabric has a great drape and a bit of heft to it that’s perfect for summer nights. I hadn’t worked with chainette yarn before, but it was no harder than plied yarn and it’s quite difficult to see the little chains in the finished scarf. Overall, I love it and I’m already planning a striped sweater in Lindy Chain to wear on an upcoming beach vacation. This yarn relationship looks like it’ll be for the long haul!