Collection of Cowls

I recently went on a brief cowl binge. It started when I decided to find a project to use up three skeins of vintage Cash Iroha that I bought last year at my November retreat. I usually agonize over pattern/yarn pairings. I will add a pattern to my Ravelry queue and pick a yarn to knit it with. Then I'll change my mind again and again. Eventually I lose interest in the pattern and the yarn is still unused. This time I decided to make a swift decision and knit it straightaway.

I chose Adama by Hilary Smith-Callis. It is a shawl-cowl hybrid, knit flat at first then later in the round. It fits nicely around your neck and shoulders without needing to be pinned or tied. It's a bit funny looking when not in use.

Ignore my epic side-eye in this photo. I really like it. Cash Iroha, despite being horribly prone to breaking and pilling, is a favorite yarn of mine. And this color is lovely. The pattern was very quick and easy to knit up. Once you knit the one lace panel it's easily memorized.

Next I grabbed a few skeins of Woolfolk Får that I bought several years ago at another stash sale. The yarn is a chainette of incredibly soft merino wool. Again, without much dithering, I dove into a pattern, the Grayhaven Cowl, free on Ravelry. It's very basic. I didn't end up using as much yarn as I thought I would need so I still have a whole skein leftover.

The yarn is heaven.

While I was at my November retreat I found a mostly-knit scarf in the "free" basket. I took it back to my room and ripped it out. The yarn was Schoppel-wolle Gradient in the In der wiese colorway. I love this yarn and love the colors. I challenged myself to knit a cowl with it in time for show and tell on the final night of the retreat.

I chose Trust Me by Louise Zass-Bangham. I've knit several of her patterns and have really enjoyed them. Trust me is a circular cowl, knit flat, with no seams. Cool trick, right? I could try to explain it to you but maybe you should just knit one yourself. The one drawback of the cowl is that it needs to be as tall as half the circumference. So it's kind of tall for a snug-fitting cowl.

So there you have it, I've moved on from hats, for the moment, and am obsessed with cowls.

After the Shawl

I finally finished Drachenfels!* It felt like it took forever to knit. And it kind of did. It was my only project, other than a few log cabin squares for all of April and the first two weeks of May. And now it's sitting in a crumpled ball waiting to be blocked.

The yarn, Cormo Sport by Elemental Affects, is delightful. It's soft but not mushy, makes crisp clear stitches and is springy as all get out. Seriously, I would sometimes get distracted while knitting and find myself just holding a length of it between my hands pulling it out and watching it spring back to shape. Boing, boing, boing. Delightful!

When I finished Drachenfels I couldn't decide what to do next. I need to dye more yarn before I can continue on my log cabin blanket. So, being me, I knit a few hats. I finished another X-ing X's  that I had cast on before going to the movies months ago (Zootopia? Probably.) 

Then I started another hat for a viewing of Captain America: Civil War. A two-toned affair.

Now I'm knitting a plain black, ribbed hat for a co-worker's husband. 

I have to pick out my next project. I'm deciding between the Honeylocust Loop and Waiting for Rain but if history teaches us anything I'll probably end up starting something completely different.

*I see that I never mentioned starting Drachenfels here. I started it. Then I knit it. Now it's done.

E.L.F. Cap

Pattern: E.L.F. Cap by Kendra Nitta

Needles: US3 and 4 Addi Turbos

Yarn: Lots of leftovers! Koigu, Hazel Knits, Sundara, Alpha B

Notes: This is a very entertaining knit. There's lots of short row shaping, cables, stripes, colorwork. 

Be aware there is errata for one of the short row sections. I was working from the original version of the pattern that appeared in The Unofficial Harry Potter Knits. It has since been republished in Knitting Wizardry. I don't know if the error is in the book as well. You can find the corrected instructions on the Ravelry page.

Leftovers Cowl

Pattern: Leftovers Cowl by Wendy Johnson

Needles: US6 Addi Turbo

Yarn: So many scraps!

Notes: I knit this whole thing on the wrong size needle. I didn't realize it until I was nearly done. I meant to use a US4. 

My finished cowl weighs 280 grams and is about 50" long. I used up a lot of leftovers but I only completely used up a few skeins. Colorwork takes so little yarn of each color in a project like this. 

The biggest challenge was picking skeins that gave enough contrast and not picking the same combos over and over. It got really cumbersome to work on toward the end. All that cowl keeps twisting up in your lap and tangling with the yarns. Keeping it pinned up or stuffed in a project bag helps. It also is not a very portable project because of all the yarn you need to carry around. I found it useful to lay all the colors out in a tray at home to better see my color selection choices. 

Foolproof

Pattern: Foolproof by Louise Zass-Bangham
Yarn: Handpsun Shetland/Merino and Merino/Silk
Needle: US5 Addi Turbo
Notes: What a clever pattern! This pattern is perfect for scraps, handspun, anything. Any gauge yarn will work too. There is no cast on, no bind off and no grafting. You begin with a single stitch, you end with a single stitch. So clever! If you are making one just remember that the depth of the initial triangle determines the width of your cowl.

Hats, Hats and More Hats

I've gotten out of my Helix Hat rut but I'm still not over hats. I have knit several over the past month.

Pattern: Beeswax Hat
Yarn: Hazelknits Lively DK in Coveralls
Needles: US6 Addi Turbos

Notes: I had this in my queue for so long! I'm so glad I finally knit it. I think it pairs so well with this yarn.

Pattern: Northstar Hat
Yarn: Autunno
Needles: US8 Addi Turbos
Notes: Darn my compact row gauge. This out came out so small. I kept checking to make sure I hadn't missed a section of the instructions. I have lots of this yarn left, which I think is fantastic for this pattern, so I might do it again for a larger hat.

Pattern: Xing X's
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: US7 Addi Turbos
Notes: Do I need to say anything more about this pattern? You've seen me do it many times over. It's my go-to pattern when I head to the movies. I knit this one at screenings of Carol and The Big Short. It still needs its X.

Pattern: Sitka Spruce
Yarn: Solitude wool Targhee 2
Needles: US7 and 8
Notes: Sigh. It's so tiny. My compact row gauge is part of it but I've heard from many others that theirs came out too small as well. My yarn was definitely smaller than the yarn called for in the pattern. No matter. It's pretty and it will fit a child.

Pattern: Trickster
Yarn: Imperial Yarn Erin
Needles: US5 and 8 Addi Turbos
Notes: A quick, easy knit that turned out beautifully. And not too small!

Sitka Spruce

Pattern: Sitka Spruce by tincanknits
Yarn: Targhee 2 by solitude wool
Needles: US 6 and 8 Addi Turbo
Notes: This yarn was finer than I expected which, combined with my short row gauge, left me with a pretty small hat. Very pretty though.

Lambing Mittens

Pattern: Lambing Mittens by Veronika Jobe

Yarn: Cascade Pastaza, every last bit of one skein

Needles: US7 Clover Takumi DPNs

Notes: I knit these as written until I realized that I did not have quite enough yarn. I ended up ripping out a few garter ridges for the foldover on the first mitt to complete the second. These will be a gift for a co-worker who keeps telling me that the coffee cozy I gave him also works as a hand warmer. I think a full pair is in order.

Sock Blank Socks

Yarn: Knitpicks Sock Blank dyed last summer by me
Needle: US1 Addi Turbo
Notes: The sock blank is a machine-knit rectangle with two strands of yarn held together so I had to knit these two at a time. I love the way my colors came out but I don't think this yarn is going to hold up very well. I just winged the pattern, a pair of plain vanilla socks.

Cameo

Pattern: Cameo by Paulina Popiolek

Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga! in Autumn Tiger Beetle and Common Emerald Moth

Needle: US5 Addi Turbo

Notes: This shawl is completely easy mindless knitting with what feels like miles of garter stitch. I think I need to take a break from garter stripe shawls for a while!

Bear Sweater Duet

The Seattle Knitters Guild is knitting teddy bear sweaters for Camp Erin again this year. I didn't participate last year because I was working on other charity knits and there was a devoted fleet of knitters churning out knits for bears at the Guild. This year there haven't been nearly enough bear items knit and I decided to pitch in. I already gave you a look at a hat that I turned into a tiny bottom-up raglan. And I knit a simple bear sweater in Berocco Quasar that I completely forgot to photograph before handing in.

I knit another one in Manos Maxima which I did photograph.



And then I started another one at knitting on Monday but I didn't have any markers with me to mark the raglan increases. Instead I fudged my way through a top-down yoke sweater with roughly the same proportions in the same yarn.



Next I'm thinking maybe one with helix stripes...

Game Knitting

 I finished my game knitting. I started this hat to watch the new Avengers movie. In game knitting you have "triggers" and you choose what you'll do when you hit one of your triggers. I choose to purl five stitches.

My trigger moments were when...

1. Stark quips.
2. Banner turns into Hulk.  
3. Blatant product placement.
4. Black Widow chides the “boys.” 
5.  Captain America or Thor misses a cultural reference (didn’t happen).
6. Hawkeye is lame.
7. Maria Hill appears via video conference.
8. Nick Fury appears. 
9. Agents Carter or Coulson are mentioned.

When the movie was over I was only halfway through my hat. I made up some triggers for watching Wolf Hall instead but kept it simple. I worked five purls whenever anyone said Anne or Henry or when Anne or Henry were in a scene.

Itineris

Pattern: Itineris by Hilary Smith Callis
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM and Sundara Sock
Needle: US6
Notes: Yes, more garter stitch stripes. What can I say? It's relaxing. I blocked this very wide to make it as wearable as possible. The garter has so much stretch I ended up with a nice big wraparound shawl.

Luna2

Pattern: Luna2 by Reiko Kuwamura
Yarns: Hazel Knits Artisan Sock, Hazel Knits Entice and Koigu KPM
Needle: US6 Addi Turbo
Notes: I started this way back in July and then just let it sit for ages. It's a fun little pattern, once you get the rhythm of it, and a great stashbuster for partial skeins of sock yarn.

Handspun Woven Scarf

Yarn: Polwarth (dyed by Judith Mackenzie) plied with Corriedale Cross plus a little leftover 3-ply Corridale from my Linney sweater
Loom: 10" Cricket
Notes: I put on a 100" warp of the Polwarth/Corriedale. It's a frequently repeated untruth that you can't weave with handspun yarn. Which is absurd because until the industrial revolution that's all anyone ever wove with! But people say it all the time. I had no problems using this soft 2-ply as a warp. It might not have been strong enough for my table loom but the Cricket is pretty gentle on yarn, I think. I didn't know how much of the yarn I would have left for the weft (it turned out to be 100 grams for the warp with only 65 grams left for the weft) so I added in stripes of the 3-ply. It not only gives a color contrast but also a texture since the 3-ply is very round in comparison to the 2-ply. I remembered to hemstitch this one so I just trimmed the fringe to finish.

Celandine

Pattern: Celandine Beanie by Romi Hill
Yarn: Madelinetosh Eyre in Fig (less than one skein)
Needles: US7 and 5
Notes: What a nice little palette-cleanser project! I have been spinning and spinning and spinning and not doing much knitting. This project is quick with a simple little leaf lace pattern (I love a good lace leaf). I was worried my squat row gauge would make this too short but the fit is fine and it's very warm to wear.

Quicksilver

Pattern: Quicksilver by Melanie Beg
Yarn: Hazel Knits Divine, Kitchen Sink Dyeworks Merino Fine, Fiber Optic Footnotes
Needle: US6 Addi Turbo
Notes: I knit the pattern as written except I accidentally left a stripe out of one the sections. Whoops! This is a great mindless knit that doesn't get too boring because something is always changing. It's also a fantastic stashbuster for sock yarn.

One Hour Crazy Cowl

Pattern: Very loosely based on this Drop Stitch Cowl
Yarn: Leftover bits of superfine merino from various spinning classes spun thick/thin, approximately 70 yards
Needles: US13 Addi Turbos
Notes: This took less than an hour to knit. I cast on 30 stitches, knit two garter ridges then around of drop stitches with a single wrap, one garter ridge then round of drop stitches with a double wrap, two garter ridges then round of drop stitches with a single wrap, two garter ridges then bound off.