Matchy-Matchy

I'm a matchy-matchy sort of girl. Shoes and purse must be the same color. (Except in summer. . . yellow, orange or green purses are OK with black sandals.) Toenails and fingernails must be polished the same. (Um. . . summer exception again.) And undies? Yes, of course, they have to match. (However there is a dirty laundry exception.)

Seriously, though, I really, really, really am a matchy-matchy girl!

I have two pairs of green gloves that I rarely wear because none of my scarves have green in them.



So for the Knitters Review Retreat mindless knitting project, I decided to make a scarf to go with the gloves. But after a couple of false starts of both yarn and pattern,



I finally decided on the 22.5 Degrees Scarf using the recommended Wollmeise. Yes, the life-changing, magical Wollmeise is in my stash. However, it wasn't first choice because I thought it wouldn't match the gloves.

I was wrong. Horribly wrong. The rhabarber colorway matches and complements the gloves beautifully. And the feel and drape of the Wollmeise is incredibly wonderful! I knew immediately we had a match!

The Not-So-Silent Retreat Scarf

It's Knitters Review Retreat time! My fourth year.

When I tell people I'm going on a knitting retreat, they have visions of devout women silently knitting. A soft and gentle scene.

Nothing could be further from this! Picture Times Square on New Years Eve. OK, it's not quite that. . . but almost.

100 or so women (and a few men) all chatting, laughing, gawking at our beautiful knitted sweaters, shawls, hats. Catching up with each other, telling jokes, sharing techniques, asking advice. Connecting our Knitters Review and Ravelry names with our real names, looking for old friends and getting to know new friends. There's a whirl of color and happy noise!

And our hands are busy knitting, knitting, knitting.

The first year I went to the Retreat, I brought a sock with me. Big mistake! Tiny needles, thin yarn, yarnovers, a chart. A recipe for disaster! I learned that, for me, the Retreat wasn't the place where I could work on something that needed close attention.

The next two years, I went into mindless knitting mode for the Retreat. Last year, I worked on the Orange Baktus. Garter stitch. Size 5 needle. A four row repeat. Perfect! I was able to knit and talk at the same time!

So now came the decision for this year. What to do? I thought about the baktus and how I like the look of striped ones. Then I found a pattern for another equally easy scarf.



But I wasn't crazy about making another baktus. And, though I really liked the pattern for the other scarf, the yarn just didn't seem right for it.

This very long story does have a happy ending.



To be continued. . . .