Newbie here!

Hello everyone! I'm new to the knit-along but not new to the hiking scarf. I started mine about this time last year knitting it out of Classic Elite 03 Tweed and size 7 needles. It was intended to be a Christmas gift for my dear husband but since I didn't have that much knitting time to put in it last year, progress was slow and I kinda gave up on the poor bugger. I've been hiding it in various clever hiding spots since them, but the beauty of the pattern always keeps me coming back!

Well I'm on maternity leave this year, and have more time to put in it. I'm committed to do right by it and finish it up. Though since my husband is getting a sweater this year, I think I'll gift the scarf to his father instead. Anyway, I have knit about one foot last year and am now up to 16 inches. It's particularly slow knitting since I am knitting it through the back loop to tighten up the stitches between the cables (somehow they always look sloppy and loose when I knit conventionally - like in the second repeat from the needle where I forgot to knit TBL). Here's what it looks like so far:


In case you are wondering, that is my Brittany Birch cable needle woven into it and that pink spare yarn hanging off the needle has eight loops in it to keep track of the pattern repeat. I move to the next loop on every row and when I get to the bottom where the two strands are, I know that I need to cross the cables on that row.

Happy knitting!