Thursday, August 14, 2008

Something to Cowl about

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I'm loving this cowl!!!! My daugter, Emily, put it on, played with it, twisted it, and wore it the last 4 days she was us here this August. Until she wore it home to Brooklyn. It's been unusually cool & rainy for August & it works great as a chillchaser.

I love the idea of something that drapes this beautifully and keeps the chest and neck warm without the additional bulk of a second sweater. And how great is it that you can flip it up and use it as a hood when it cold or raining.




It knits ups so fast, and doesn't require constant attention. You establish a rhythm and can totally get lost in the zen of knitting, a good thing. It's been perfect for knitting on long drives here in Maine--of course' I'm not doing the driving. My husband is. I can pretty much enjoy the surroundings and just check in visually with the knitting every once in a while. Ok, so sometimes I knit past the starting point marker on my circular #6, and then have to rip out, but it's all about the process in knitting, right?

I've knit this one in a pale tan DK llama silk commercial blend you see in the images.
I'm working a number of permutations of this pattern. I'm trying it in another shade of the Llama silk, and have just spun some orange-y cotton from Halcyon Yarns

and plied with a soft, shine-y gold silk/wool blend yarn.
I think it will look great.




Orange cotton & gold wool/silk in the basket, waiting for me to spin, and, a sample of the yarn spun then plyed on the wheel.

Sample swatches: Knit side and purl side


So here are the instructions for this cowl.

Using #6 24" circular needles, cast on 145 stitches using a DK weight yarn. Join into a circle and *knit 3 rounds, purl 6 rounds*. Repeat between *'s a total of 11-12 times, ending with purl 6 rounds. This is a very flexible pattern. You can make this as long as you want. Try it on to see how you like the drape and Voila!