My Platonic Ideal of Shawls: A Cowl

 

This cowl is everything I want in a shawl. I know that should be a colon followed by a list of all the attributes of a shawl that I'm looking for but now that I come to write this post, I can't think of anything to say except that unlike all the (beautiful) shawls I've knit in the past, I want to wear this one. Not because I want to show it off (I do) but because it wears effortlessly. I never have to tug it or spend five minutes trying to put it on "right", or worry it'll get caught on something. I just...put it on. And wear it.

The yarn is a self-made gradient of Old Maiden Aunt sparkle 4-ply in the colours Twu Luv, Berry Good, Bramble, and Midnight. The first three were leftovers from Havra, Gudrun Johnson's first MKAL two years ago. 

It's the Starshower Cowl by Hilary Smith Callis, and it starts off as a semi-circle knit flat and then you switch to knitting it in the round to make a cowl. The pattern is easy enough although she has you switch which direction you're knitting in the round to reduce purl rows and keep you from having to work the lace on a knit round but i found it much easier to knit the lace by working the passed-over stitch on the following round. If you have the pattern, that will make sense. 

Would I knit it again or another shawl/cowl hybrid by the same designer? Probably not. The pattern as written comes in one size with a 39" circumpherance at the bottom. Now, shawls don't generally need sizes, unless it's "small or huge", but the pictures show it pulled down over her shoulders with what looks like plenty of positive ease, which is the look that sold me on the pattern only to find there's no support for modifying it. She suggest that if it doesn't fit around your shoulders, you just wear it bunched up. At the time of my knitting mine, she had responded every question and comment on the pattern except the one about making it bigger which she ignored completely. I worked out how to do so for myself and it wasn't so difficult that her refusal to do so feels like body-shaming. 

And that's fine; if she doesn't want fat bodies wearing her designs then this fat body is more than capable of modifying shawls in a similar way and there are plenty of size-inclusive designers out there to give my money to.

New Year's Resolutions

Last year, I set for myself two goals: acquire more sock construction techniques and knit two (adult) sweaters. Then, as is often the case, life got in the way. I did fairly well on the socks, trying out several different heel and toe techniques, of which the most recent was short-row heel and toe for a pair of baby socks that will sadly be frogged as I ran out of yarn. Oops. My favourite techniques are most likely the Dutch or square heel and Kitchener stitching a wedge toe. That said, I like toe-up socks best.

I did less well on the sweater front, at least as far as adult sweaters go. My husband's sweater is maybe 70% finished - I've knit the body up to the arms and am working on the sleeves. I bought my husband a pullover for Christmas. My own jumper got exactly nowhere for obvious reasons. I'll take measurements again some point in the future, at least three months post-partum. As far as baby sweaters go I knit 4.5 sweaters, one of which was a pattern I'd done before (teal). Most were knit top down in one piece, one was knit flat in one piece and then seamed up the sides and under the arms (green). As baby sweaters, especially for a theoretical baby, aren't expected to fit the same way adult sweaters need to, I don't count them for my NYR.

I have 22 finished projects for 2012, 4 still in progress, 1 frogged, and 2 hibernating. Oddly, both of the hibernating ones use the same yarn. Most types of projects goes to cowls of which I knit 9 (three using the same pattern) thanks almost entirely to the Great Cowl KAL last February and March. Second most projects was socks, with 5 finished in 2012 (two started in 2011) and another two on the needles. One pair is maybe an hour's work from being finished so I may make it to 6 finished pairs of socks yet.

I am not setting any resolutions for next year although I suppose "finish the things I currently have on needles plus the nursing cardigan" count as goals. That would be 5 projects: husband sweater (70% finished), socks for my mother (almost done with first one), baby blanket/shawl for Little Djinn and the Wishbone socks for me that I mentioned were close to finished, and the just mentioned cardigan for nursing. They're all also things I'd like to have before Little Djinn arrives in 3 maybe three weeks which no doubt explains why I started a new cross-stitch project today.

Husband Knits

These are things knit for my husband, not things knit by him. I did try and teach him to knit but he got a few rows in and decided he didn't care it wasn't for him.

First up are Husband Socks, specifically the Firestarter Socks by Yarnissima knit in Opal's van Gogh sock yarn colourway "Red Vineyard" from Sock Yarn Shop. I love this pattern and plan to knit them again sans modifications (I added 4 stitches after the toe and another two for the cuff to size them up and switched the cable to a braid which I'm not sure added anything) for myself. The Red Vineyard colourway turned out a bit less red than I anticipated, more of a burgundy than the rusty red I was expecting. Fortunately my husband has no problem with "pink" socks and is delighted with them. According to Ravelry, I started them on 22 September and finished them on 15 October. I almost entirely faithful knitting the first sock, but my attention wandered on the second (Oh siren of casting on new projects, I am susceptible to your wiles!).

Having finished the Husband Socks, I polled the internet if I should cast on something new or work on another project in progress. My single respondent, Yochannah, voted for something new and I gave myself permission to cast on a project that had been dancing in the back of my head for a while, The Perpetually Persistent Cowl by Liz Abinante. I knit one back in March as part of the Great Cowl KAL using the only super bulky yarn I had in stash, Rowan's Big Wool in brown (it was a gift). I modified the cables on that one slightly (adding another cross to tie it all together like a chain-link fence) and then gave it to my Aunt Kathleen, a redhead who shows to advantage in autumnal colours and lives in Alaska where things like chunky merino cowls are useful. I ear-marked the pattern for future use and bought some yummy bulky alpaca from a farm when wine tasting with my mother with the intention of knitting one up for myself, but at 11pm when I was looking to cast on I decided that winding the skein into a cake was somewhat excessive and instead grabbed another ball of the same Rowan Big Wool I'd used before and cast one on for my husband who had also expressed interest.* Half an hour last night and less than 4 hours today and I have a finished cowl. I did the cables as written this time but added a third repeat to make sure he can wear it up over his ears as his fedora doesn't shield them from the wind.

This pattern is my recommendation for holiday gift knitting - they're simple, they're fast, they're cozy as all get out, and they use less than a skein each. Churn them out!

Finally, I give you Husband Convertible Mitts from the Borough pattern in Knitty's Winter 2011 issue, knit with Noro Kochoran in peach-purple which, again, turned out more pink than expected. These took a week last December but have languished since for want of buttons. I still don't have the "right" buttons for them, but on the grounds that any buttons at all is the difference between them ever getting worn or not, I am adding buttons now. I don't remember much about knitting them and I didn't add notes in Ravelry so we'll assume they were easy and straight-forward and that I didn't make any modifications.

~ * ~

* This is the man who asked me to knit him a nose-cosy (and has since found any number of excuses to keep from having to wear it). He is generally in favour of me knitting anything and everything for him.

Summer and Winter in Spring

The last week in March had some of the nicest weather I've experienced in Scotland. Scotland was setting record Highs for temperatures in March and nearby Aberdeen was the hottest place in the UK for a couple of days running at almost 23C (73F) and Inverness was not far behind. Chris and I spent the weekend outside: we went for walks (in shorts! Without sweaters!), we cleaned the patio, we had a bbq, drank Pimm's and Lemonade, and had lunch in the garden.

Daffodils were in full bloom, we opened all the windows, and I lived in sun dresses for three days. It was everything you could hope for in a Scottish summer and more! So a week later it snowed:

I had to dig out our daffodils and a week later they're still half horizontal. From shorts to three layers of wool almost overnight. Clearly we'd had our summer and it was back to winter, except an oddly bright winter with the almost 14 hours of daylight we're currently getting. On the plus side, when I saw that thermal underwear was half price, I was in the right mindset to buy a few pairs, and I got to wear my newest knitwear, my Blueberry Scowl.

This was the final cowl in Liz Abinante's Great Cowl KAL, a challenge to knit five cowls in 50 days. The above picture of my cowl being modelled by an uncharacteristically affectionate Libby (she sat on my lap, trapping me on the sofa, just as I finished sewing on the buttons) was taken the evening of the final deadline and it was a near thing finishing at all.

I'd signed up for the KAL in the days between returning from our honeymoon and learning that my father was dying. When I flew out for the funeral I had just cast on the third cowl and I packed appropriate yarn and needles for the fourth cowl which would start while I was in California (along with two sock projects). The last cowl, the Blueberry Scowl started around the time I flew back and was the only project for which I didn't already have a suitable yarn. I checked with my LYS (local yarn shop) but Worsted Weight, which falls between Aran and DK (double knitting) isn't readily available in the UK for whatever reason and my LYS isn't known for its extensive selection, and there was nothing suitable. I searched online and eventually found a suitable yarn on Etsy and ordered it. We were a week into the three week deadline, but I had finished with time to spare on the other projects so I wasn't terribly worried until another week went by and there was no sight of my yarn. It turns out the dyer I'd purchased it from had gone out of town for the week and hadn't had a chance to post it before leaving. Gah!

I kept waffling about what to do: on one hand I had other projects, lovely projects, crying out to be knit; on the other hand the Blueberry Scowl was my favourite looking pattern going in; on the first hand, that meant I had the prize I wanted; but on the second hand to have come so far and give up at the end; I'd get around to knitting it eventually, right?; or would I get distracted and leave the yarn and pattern to languish like so many projects before them? What to do?

Obviously I knit the Scowl, but not as written and not with the yarn I'd ordered. The day it arrived I CO with the half skein of Malabrigo Worsted - which is actually an Aran - I had leftover from the mitten and hat KAL on G+ (which, now that I think about I never told you about. Um, oops?). Not enough yarn to knit a full-sized Scowl but enough to knit one that would just fit around my neck and button snugly. Just before going to bed, I realized that I'd not actually read the pattern, just skimmed it, and left off a section so I frogged it and started over now with only 3 days to go. Good thing we already know how the story ends or this would be getting tense, right?

Yes, friends, I finished the cowl and got a picture of it draped across Princess (I wanted it buttoned around her torso but she made it clear she doesn't like me that much) and submitted with hours to spare. And then it snowed and I even got to wear it! Unfortunately my buttons are too small so it won't much stay buttoned, but that's okay because I can replace them with larger buttons when I find the right ones.

And the rewards for finishing? For completing the Blueberry Scowl I got another cowl, the Like Honey Cowl, and for completing all five cowls I get to beta test Liz's (after this I feel like we're on a first name basis, Liz and I) new Members' site with access to future patterns. All of that in addition, of course, to the free patterns and beautiful cowls that made up the competition.

Flurries Cowl and the Great Cowl KAL

You might think that, with two pairs of socks in progress, a hooded scarf on the needles, and yarn either acquired for specific projects (a sweaters for my husband and one for my self; mittens for Aged Parent) or less specific projects (socks! socks socks socks socks, socks! Well, at least three pairs) that I wouldn't be looking for new projects. Though, to be fair, if you actually thought that you're probably not a knitter or otherwise crafty.

In my defense, I didn't go looking for patterns, but one (well, five really) jumped out at me from behind a bush (RSS feed) and, what can I say other than that I'm a sucker for a free pattern, especially one that's only free for a limited time? I've recently downloaded The Sexy Knitter's thummed Muffalette, Kate Davies' Fair Isle Mucklemuff and Mary Jane Mucklestone's matching Muckle-mitts*, all Christmas or New Year's presents and thus they free for a limited time.

Those are not my current projects (though they've all been queued because they're lovely and I don't have a single muff** and now I have very different patterns for two of them!). My current project is a slightly different proposition: Liz Abinante of Feministy is doing The Great Cowl KAL, a series of five cowl KALs with the first one Flurries Cowl currently being free. If you knit it and submit a picture by the deadline, 8 February, you get the pattern for the next cowl for free. The cowls are all listed in the original post, it's not a mystery game, and if you miss a cowl you can buy the subsequent pattern and still earn the following ones. Isn't that nifty? Add in that the first cowl calls for Brioche stitch, one I've been wanting to try, and I had to cast on:

I've decided I really like the concept of giving a pattern away for free for a limited time, and not just because I like free stuff***: it's a reward for fans who pay attention, a way to attract new people as your existing fans tell their friends about this limited-time offer, and, importantly, when the pattern is no longer free, when you're asking strangers to pay for it, there are already a slew of projects and feedback with a variety of yarns alternatives and proven modifications. You basically turn your fans into Beta Testers (not to be confused with test knitters who provide a valuable service, one worthy of remuneration) and increase the value of a given pattern.

~ * ~

* if you read further through her blog, May Jane Mucklestone does a little tutorial on after-thought thumbs, well worth the read: prepping, picking up, and fixing holes

** don't be dirty

*** free doesn't necessarily correlate with "good", know what I mean? Also, I am entirely in favour of paying designers for patterns I like so that they can afford to design more things that I like. It's win-win.

FO: Eleanor Cowl

Eleanor Cowl - Audrey Knight, Knitty Deep Fall 2010
Misti Alpaca, Tonos Carnaval: Symphony Blue - 100g/400m - 50% Alpaca/30% Merino/10% Nylon/10% Silk

This is my finished Eleanor Cowl, out of the leftover yarn from my wedding shawl. I switched to my smallest needles when I changed charts instead of waiting for the repeat of the second chart - one day I will learn to read patterns carefully. I want the cowl snug around my neck, so I'm going to consider it a fortuitous happenstance rather than a blunder. As I believe I mentioned before, my interchangeable set is metric with whole and half-sizes so I lack a 3.75mm (US5) needle and used 4.5mm, 4.0mm, and 3.5mm for the needles.

I haven't yet blocked the cowl and I don't think I will beyond, perhaps, the very bottom. As I said, I like it snug around my neck. I'm worried that, with winter being cold and all, stretching the lace out will just make it less useful. If this upcoming winter is anything like the last, I will be using it under a scarf and probably considering layering it with another. This is what happens when a Delicate Mediterranean Flower moves to Scotland.

Eleanor Cowl

After a month of knitting socks on tiny needles (with only one finished sock to show for it) I decided to give my poor aching hands a rest and cast on the Eleanor Cowl from knitty. This is when I realized that my (metric-based) interchangeable needles don't have a US5 (3.75mm) as they're half and whole metric sizes. Oops. I have one 3.75mm circ which I guess I will be leaning on for all US5/3.75mm projects. I used a US6/4.0mm circ for this project for the ease of switching needles while leaving the project on the same cables, but I screwed up the transfer so that wasn't exactly brilliant.

I had been looking for something to do with a pretty teal/sea green/aqua yarn cake I bought at a locally-produced gift shop in town, but while I know it's 100g of 2ply lambswool, the yardage (meterage? is that a word? Is it the right word?) is anyone's guess. I looked at making mittens, but the thought of having to do two to complete a project seems too much like what I want to take a break from (though mostly it's the aching fingers as I just bloody well want to have knit a pair of socks already). So I'm using the last of the (lovely, lovely, lovely) yarn I bought for my wedding shawl to knit a small cowl. I should have enough yarn - it could wind up a few rows short, depending on my gauge.