Baktus

Last week, while searching Ravelry at work, I found a pattern that got me excited. This is actually fairly unusual. I look at a lot of patterns, most of which don't interest me all that much. My Ravelry queue is only about 30 patterns long, so I am rather particular about what I want to make. But Baktus really grabbed my imagination, and I couldn't wait to get started. The pattern originated in Norway, as far as I can tell, and Baktus was originally a character in Norwegian mythology.

Baktus is basically a large triangular scarf that is worked end to end (rather than bottom to top) in garter stitch. I decided to use a self-striping yarn, and I got this far:
Then I hesitated, because the stripes look a little unusual because of the construction of the piece. So I went digging further into the stash, and found another yarn to try.
Then I went back to Ravelry and looked at all 400 projects listed on there. And I finally reassured myself that the FOs all looked fine and mine would too. So I now have 2 versions of this project started, both of which I want to finish. Luckily this is a quick and fun project to knit, even if I am using fingering weight yarn and size 3 needles.

However, I also now have self-striping sock yarn on the brain and wouldn't you know that elann.com put some self-striping sock yarn on sale yesterday. I fell in love with 3 of the colorways, so I now have 3 skeins of sock yarn coming my way. I just couldn't resist! Since I don't think I have bought yarn all year, I don't feel too bad. But I will be good now until August, when I go to the Knit and Crochet Show.