This weekend was all about Sherlock Holmes. First, we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to take in The International Exhibition of Sherlock Holmes. The exhibit had original manuscripts by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, lots of Holmes-related ephemera, magnificent props creating Holmes’ Victorian study, and a very cool interactive mystery, which actually took some effort to solve.

I was lucky to have my husband with me, since I botched the brass rubbings that were supposed to reveal Holmes’ instructions, and I misjudged the poisonous plant clues besides. But we uncovered the facts in the end, and it was all rather inspiring.

Back at home, I wrapped up my husband’s Baker Street Scarf, which I finished with plenty of time before Christmas. This particular knitting project definitely hit a sweet spot for me, since the scarf pattern was inspired by the BBC show Sherlock and was modeled on the cover of Knitty Magazine by Neil Gaiman, my favorite author. (Also, the scarf was ridiculously easy to knit.) I don’t know how the editors of Knitty convinced Mr. Gaiman to model knitwear, but good for them.

I chose a highly Gothic yarn for the scarf: Blue Moon’s Gaea, an organic merino that’s dyed to order for each customer, reducing textile waste. The moody colorway is called “Say Nevermore,” referencing a line of dialogue from Gaiman’s novel American Gods. If I’m remembering the novel correctly, the protagonist Shadow asks one of Odin’s ravens to say “Nevermore,” and the raven tells him where he can go, in language too coarse for my blog.

Well, the scarf isn’t coarse at all. Happy Solstice, everyone!