Tag Archive | cowls

Two Finished Knitted Cowls

I know I have neglected you, dear readers, but I have been busy making things to show you. Plus I have been busy with other non-yarn things. (I know, what’s wrong with me?) But yesterday was all about yarn, and I finished a project that’s been hanging over my head for months.

A few weeks ago, I posted about a lace cowl WIP that I had picked up again, and I had to frog it and start over. I tried really hard. I got around 10 rows done, set it aside to make a hat…and could never bring myself to get back to it. Apparently, I HATE fingering weight yarn with a passion. And fingering weight yarn with a lace pattern? That is my nightmare, clearly. I messaged the friend who’d requested it and asked if I could modify the pattern by holding the yarn double. She was chagrined that she’d asked for such a difficult pattern, but I assured her that was not the case. Really, the pattern itself is quite simple. There are many knitters out there who would love to make a long lace infinity scarf with 360 stitches in fingering weight yarn on size 4 needles. It was just a combination that I had no idea I would dislike so much. She gave me free rein on the cowl, and I had it DONE by the end of the day. Seriously. Started and finished in one day. Now, that’s mostly all I did yesterday, but in the previous incarnation, I *might* have gotten a third of the way through. Can I say it again? The cowl is DONE. And I love it. I love how it turned out. I’d bought three skeins of Premier sock yarn in Hot Lime, so I held three strands together, took the Spring Lace Infinity Scarf pattern (which really is quite lovely) and cast on 108 stitches. Then I just knit in the lace pattern until it looked tall enough. It came out at 7 1/2″ tall, so I could have gone at least another repeat or two, but for a spring cowl I think it’ll work well. Whew! I’m so glad to have the done so I can send it off!

I also managed to whip out a cowl for another friend. I had one skein of Plymouth worsted alpaca in dark grey, so I used the Darkside Cowl pattern, and I made that in less than a day. It’s a fantastic pattern; I’ll definitely be making more. It’s super cozy, the way it hugs the neck. Mmmm. I need to make myself one.

I enjoyed my little cowl-knitting break, but I think I’m ready to get back to hats. I’ve got a spring crochet scarf to finish up, but then I’m breaking out the circs. I sold a hat on Etsy (WHEE) so now I’m motivated to replace it and add more. And we have cold, snowy weather here today so the best thing to do is snuggle up with the puppy and the yarn.

It’s Bittersweet: Finished Rainbow Cowl

Jan25

Guess what I finished last night? My rainbow cowl! I’m so happy because that means I can either wear it or list it on Etsy. But I’m so sad because that means I can’t knit on it anymore and I so enjoyed knitting with that yarn. I totally need to save up to buy some more Vice yarn. Great stitch definition, soft without being too floppy, and those colors!This is unblocked, so I still need to wash it and pin it out but I think it’s a great size. This was a wonderful travel project too, so I expect I’ll be making more with my fancy single skeins. I even have about 60 yards left, and I’m wondering if I can squeeze out a wee pair of fingerless gloves, something just like a handwarmer. If I succeed, I’ll share it!

FO Friday

Jan23

It is Friday, right? For reals? I just now realized I posted a WIP Wednesday post…on Thursday. And you all are so nice that none of you made fun of me (in writing)! So thank you, I appreciate it. In my defense, Monday was a holiday and threw everything off. I think I’m back on track now. And I actually have a finished project to share.These are boot cuffs made for a niece’s birthday. I kind of made up my own pattern and added some of my favorite new buttons. I really hope they fit and she likes them! They’re Raveled here, if you’re interested.

And that’s all. Boy, I’m so unproductive this week. I could have worked on my seed stitch beanie, but…well. I didn’t. I had an unexpected lunch date, which was lovely, so didn’t have that time. And after I finished the cuffs and sewed the buttons on, I needed to stretch my legs plus the puppy was bonkers so he got a nice long walk and then it was almost dinner time…you know how it goes. But last night during tennis, I did cast on my beautiful rainbow Vice. It’s a plain stockinette cowl with ribbed edges and it’s going quickly.Can I just knit with this yarn forever and ever? It’s the best yarn ever and I want more.

I might not finish anything today. I get to have lunch with some good friends and then I have to run errands for the mother and errands with the children. We’ll see how far I get this morning!

Books & Cowls

Jan13

Apparently I was feeling adventurous yesterday. I started out the morning by learning a new bind off (Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy). Then I decided to try something else new, so I downloaded an audiobook from the library to listen to while I knitted. I used to be an avid reader. It wasn’t unusual for me to have two books going at the same time, and I’d go through several books a month. Then I learned to crochet and knit. First I couldn’t even fathom trying to focus on what my fingers were doing as well as words in a book. Then, even when I could, I couldn’t figure out the logistics. After all, my hands were busy. How could I hold a book? I did manage to read an e-book once while I was knitting a super-simple Gap-tastic cowl that was just seed stitch all the way through. But it was awkward to pause and “turn” the page; it disrupted my rhythm.

So I kind of gave up books. I know, it’s sad, right? I’m sad to type it and even sadder to admit it. Now, don’t freak out, I didn’t give them up completely. I still read at times, but a lot of it was knitting-related. I don’t sit and read in the evenings like I used to. I don’t devour books while devouring lunch; instead I browse patterns on Ravelry. But I miss books. I miss being a reader. But I don’t want to give up knitting.

Ergo, audiobooks. I found a book I hadn’t read before and off I went. It was strange at first, but easier then I expected. I’ve tried audiobooks before and didn’t care for them; I process things better by reading them than hearing them. But this wasn’t any heavy reading, just light fiction, and it was fine. It’s definitely not the same as the heft of an actual book in my hands, feeling the scratch of the paper and getting a whiff of used-book mustiness. The biggest problem was that I can’t skim. I realized that I must skim over a lot of description in books to get to the action, because there were several times I found myself thinking, “Oh, get on with it already. I know how you feel, so what are you going to DO?” But it’s fine. It’s better than no book at all. And I’m actually kind of excited. I don’t have to choose between books and yarn now. I can browse the library and get all kinds of books on my Overdrive app!

So what did I do while I was “reading”? I finally finished that Malabrigo cowl! I’m in between projects and wanted to finish something fun. I love love love this yarn, and I think this pattern is a great way to show it off.The color isn’t perfect in these shots, despite my best efforts. It’s got a tiny bit more purple than the first picture indicates. This second shot is probably the closest to the true color.It might be just wee bit tall, but hey, the better to burrow your chin into, right? And I kind of like the look of it folded over a bit.For those who care: this is the Clairiere Cowl and Malabrigo Worsted yarn. This yarn is amazing. Obviously the colors are fantastic but the yarn itself is soft yet sturdy, no splitting. It’s one of my new favorites.

Today I’m going to tackle fingering-weight lace again, so send me some good vibes!

What’s On My Needles Today?

Jan8

I don’t have any finished objects to show yet, but it’s close. I did indeed start a new project yesterday, as I said I would, and oh I am in love with it. And I have Ravelry to thank for it. I was browsing patterns the other day (I can’t remember if it was the Top 20 or my highlights or New Patterns) and I saw a photo of this lovely, simple cowl. I clicked on it, saw it was free (awesome!), and then noticed the yarn that Ravelry suggested I use: Malabrigo Worsted. The same Malabrigo I bought at the Yarn Barn recently and wound with plans to knit it soon. Well, that’s fate, isn’t it? I love cowls, I love simple patterns with a twist (literal or figurative), and I love this yarn. I cast on and after three episodes of Grey’s, I have a big chunk completed. Isn’t it beautiful?? I just love the colors in this. As soon as I’m done on this darn computer, I’m retreating to my couch and finishing it. Oh yeah, you might want the pattern, eh? It’s the Clairiere Cowl and it’s an easy 4-row repeat.

I also picked out some yarn for boot cuffs today. The response has been strong and positive, so I’m planning to make several pairs for the craft show season. Here’s what I’ve got to start. That one on top is a dark brown. I’m not sure about that color, since most boots are black or brown. Would you wear brown boot cuffs with brown boots?Finally, here’s my sad puppy from yesterday. Despite his best efforts, he did not get a walk in the sub-zero temperatures, so he was a lazy pup all day long. I promise he will get a walk today. Later. It’s supposed to warm up a bit by this afternoon. Here’s hoping. Really I should be making myself a Polar Vortex hat this morning!

Christmas Presents Unveiled

Dec27

I don’t know about all of you, but I was very tired yesterday. Christmas can wear a person out, what with all the shopping & wrapping & cooking & eating & cleaning & unwrapping & cleaning. But we had a wonderful two days of family time, so it was all worth it. And now that gifts have been given, I can share a few things I couldn’t share before.

The first is the Bumble Hat. He’s the Abominable Snowman from the Rudolph TV special and I found the link on Facebook. I was tempted to make one for myself but ended up making it for my aunt, who commented how much she liked it. I used some fuzzy white yarn from Joann (lost the ball band so I don’t know what it was, but not fun fur) and random acrylic from the stash for the face. He was so fun to make.I made a Jayne hat (from Firefly, I think. Or something like that.) for my sister and I think she liked it. I used Knit Picks Bulky, and the orange wasn’t quite as orange as it should be, but she assured me it was still acceptable. Our mother couldn’t figure out why she would want something like this, or how she could wear it out in public. Some things just can’t be explained.I made the hubby some fingerless gloves. He doesn’t wear gloves often but I figured maybe his hands get cold sometimes, and this way his fingers would be free. By some miracle, they actually fit! The pattern for these is called Maize, by Tin Can Knits, and there’s also a variation for a full mitten. I made them with Plymouth Baby Alpaca.Isn’t he cute? 🙂 You know who else is cute? My girl. I’d knit up another Super Soft Merino Hat for her in pink and gray but I knit it in front of her and told her it was for me. She was quite happy when she opened it Christmas morning. The experience of the boy’s hat did not go so well. I needed a box to wrap it in and in our box of boxes found one a good size. Without thinking, I reused it. The boy pulled off the paper and saw a box for a Doctor Who mug and got all excited, and I had to tell him it was a reused box. There were tears and I felt horrible. But after a few minutes, he recovered and didn’t seem to hold a grudge against the hat. Hmm, anything else? I think that might be all the gifty knitty things that I couldn’t share before. It was lovely because all the things I made were well-received and fit well. And I even managed to finish something new for myself just in time for the holidays: I bound off maybe five minutes before we left the house.That’s the Cupido Cowl knit in Knit Picks Reverie in Wine. I did not enjoy the knitting of it; too much knitting into purls which is not my favorite thing. But I do enjoy the finished project so much. It’s so soft and cozy, and not itchy at all. I have two more balls of the Reverie and I’ll make something else with it, but it’s going to be a very simple pattern next time!

I do hope the holidays went well for the rest of you too. I’m looking ahead to the new year with a lot of hope and optimism, and I’ll be sharing my goals, big and small, with you soon. (hint: there is yarn involved.)

No Willpower = Swirly Knitted Cowl

Dec23

I failed. Those gorgeous skeins of yarn I wound yesterday? The ones that were supposed to be for after the holidays? I couldn’t wait to start playing with them. So I pulled out the Nerd Girl Yarns Foxy in #nofilter and cast on the Later, Gator! cowl. After maybe three hours’ knitting (super fast for me) I had a new cowl, and I love it. I made it with the girl in mind, and it looks lovely on her, but I was kind of sad to let it go. These aren’t colors I wear much, but I like how it turned out so much I kind of wanted to keep it. At least this way I’ll get to see it often, and even borrow it if I want. The blue reminds a bit of TARDIS blue, so I picked a pattern with a bit of wibbly-wobbly swirl to it. And the really cool thing is that this pattern only used around 95 yards, so I’ve still got around 180 yards left! So I’ve cast on a swirly hat, and the boy (also a Whovian) will get first crack at it. Merry Christmas Eve Eve, and happy knitting to all!

A Blogging Milestone

Nov24

I have reached a milestone: as of this weekend, I have 100 blog followers! And most of them aren’t friends or family, which is what really blows my mind. I’m so tickled and flattered that so many people enjoy my posts enough that they want to see them regularly! To all of you following me, I say a hearty THANK YOU!! You encourage me to keep this little adventure going and help me believe that maybe I can really call myself a writer.

That’s not the only bit of encouragement I’ve gotten either. I have a new follower on my Etsy page, and again, it’s someone I’ve never interacted with before. Of course I love to have my friends and family follow me, but when it’s a stranger, you don’t question the motive. You know it’s because they honestly like your page. And that feels good.

My Facebook bonny knits page is at 72 likes, so it’s a slow grower, but that’s okay. It’s grown by almost ten likes within the last couple of weeks; that’s encouraging. And I’m hoping that after Christmas when I have more time to put into my business, I can get that number higher too.

Okay. Enough with the boring number stuff. I’ve been productive the last few days and have several things to show off. They’re all Christmas gifts, and there’s a slim chance one of the recipients *might* see this blog, but oh well. First is a simple cowl, made to hug the neck closely.It’s modified from this headband pattern. But I honestly don’t remember now how many stitches I cast on, and apparently I didn’t create a project on Ravelry. I *think* I did 60 stitches on size 13 needles, and I just did a simple 3×3 rib until it seemed big enough. It came out a little looser than I intended but I think it will still please the recipient. I used Lion Brand Hometown USA, a thick, warm yarn, in Tampa Spice.Now a hat! Another hat, hooray! I love how this came out. It’s for one of my nieces and she saw something similar in a Delia’s catalog, so this is my attempt to recreate it. I especially like the big pompom on top. 🙂 This was my first time using a Purl Soho pattern, even though I’ve been admiring them for ages. It’s the Super Soft Merino Hats for Everyone. I didn’t have the right size needles so I did the men’s size on smaller needles. I think it came out perfectly. The gray is Cascade Pacific Chunky, an acrylic/merino blend. It’s a yarn I just found recently and it’s a new favorite. The light turquoise is Tuhu by Mirasol Yarns and oh my is it luscious. It’s 50% Llama, 40% Merino, 10% Angora. My SIL bought it and started knitting boot cuffs, and discovered she’s extremely allergic to the angora. It’s sad. But her loss was my gain: I bought the yarn from her and it was heavenly to knit with. I held it double to match the thickness of the Cascade, and I *think* have just enough left to make a pair of the 75 Yard Malabrigo Mitts to go with the hat. Fingers crossed!Last one: the Lucky 7 Felted Tote. I realize it’s not felted yet. This is what it looks like after two cycles in my washer. I think I have determined that my washer just doesn’t felt. There’s no center agitator, so the wool doesn’t get enough action. (haha!) This is made with Cascade 128 Wool. The label said nothing about superwash, so it really should felt. Today I will submerge it in hot water and beat it with a wooden spoon. Tune it tomorrow to see how that goes!

Two Finished Hats, One Stupid Cowl

Nov11

Seriously? This purple Cascade Magnum is driving me bonkers! Last week I blogged about my challenges finding the right pattern for it, and I really thought I’d figured it out. I even bought the right size needles. Last night I cast on for the Red Rasta Cowl and it was going swimmingly: simple pattern, super bulky yarn, quick progress. The problem is I don’t like it.It’s not the yarn’s fault; I love the yarn and think it’s knitting up beautifully. But it’s so snug and stiff, and it’s already as tall as my neck with another 10 rows to go. It’s not going to drape around my neck the way it looks in the pattern picture. So I have two choices: frog and start over with more stitches and bigger needles, or frog and do the Marian pattern that I know works so well with the Magnum. What would you do?

In good news, I did manage to get a couple more projects completed. Remember that blue stripe hat that was too big? I got a new one knit up over the weekend. I even managed to knit in the dark for the first time! It was really fun, actually. As long as I was just doing simple stockinette in the round, it was easy. Anyway, hooray, that order is complete and I’m sending it off to my SIL for the embroidery.

I also finished my most recent travel-knitting project. I had a simple seed stitch slouchy beanie going for when I have to sit and wait somewhere, and I thought it would never be done. Yesterday I got close enough that I decided to finish it off at home. I used the Pompon and Seeds Hat pattern, which has been in my library for ages, and some black and gold Red Heart Fiesta yarn. I think an MU hat will be a hit at my next craft show! If I’d had some solid gold yarn, it would have a pompom. Finally, I thought I’d share my little penguin friend. A week or so ago my daughter was a little stressed out from all her activities, so I pulled out a crocheted penguin I’d made last year. I made him a hat and scarf and left him on her bed. She was delighted when she found him and named him Franklin. I’d make more…except I didn’t really like making him! Maybe I’ll look for a knit penguin pattern.Thankfully, she has survived the marching band season and the fall musical. She’s sad to see them end, but we’re all breathing easier to see our schedule open up a little bit. She was a wonderful nun in The Sound of Music, AND this weekend she auditioned for the All-District Band and earned the 9th chair in flute! That means she gets to move on and audition for All-State! Plus, she found out yesterday that she received the highest score on their school chair placement tests. As a freshman, she is the first chair flute at her school! Can you tell I’m a little proud?

Today my schedule is empty so I have a date with my couch and my yarn. I have an interesting endeavor that I’m working on, and I can’t wait to tell you about it, but I can’t yet. Maybe if I get a lot of knitting done today, I can share tomorrow!

Tuesday’s Hat is Full of Twist

Nov4

Whee, I knew I could do it! I finished the gray Pacific Chunky hat yesterday! I actually finished it during my waiting room knitting time with ten minutes to spare, which meant I had nothing to distract me from The Young and the Restless on the TV. But still, I was happy to get it done. And I like it. This is the Picholine Hat and it might be my new favorite one-skein hat. The pattern was extremely simple to memorize, but comes out looking more complex. I used size 10 1/2 needles for the brim, which makes it just a bit snugger than I’d like, and size 13 for the body. The result is a nice, loose, floppy hat. The pattern calls for a pom-pom but I didn’t have quite enough yarn left over for that. I’d like to make this again with size 11s for the brims and enough yarn for the pom. This hat used all of the 120 yards in the skein.

Sadly, the rest of my knitting time did not go so smoothly. I didn’t have time to pick up needles again until after dinner, and I thought I would work up something quick and snazzy with my purple Cascade Magnum. First, I tried the Swirling Cowl but my yarn overs were so much looser than in the pictures, and it was making a more open fabric than I wanted. I tried doing the yarn overs going the other direction and that might have helped, except I really needed 16″ circular needles and I didn’t have them. The 24″ were just too long to make it an easy knit. I frogged and started over.

The second pattern I chose was the Marian cowl. I’ve made it before with the Magnum and it works well. I’d wanted to do something different, but nothing else was jumping out at me. So I cast on and started knitting and it was…okay. After a while I stopped and took a Pinterest break, like you do. There, I found the Red Rasta Cowl and it was lovely! THAT’S what I wanted to do with the Magnum! Okay, pattern downloaded, Marian frogged, let’s cast on…with the 16″ size 15 circs…that I don’t have.

There might have been a curse word at that point. In any case, the Magnum is now in timeout. I cast on for a simple beanie in Mizzou colors to be my next easy travel project and then moved on to a simple garter stitch scarf that I need to finish before Christmas. I also turned on the TV and watched some New Girl, Mindy Project and Selfie so I could get a few laughs. It helped end the evening on a high note, instead of being frustrated with the yarn.

Today’s goal is finishing. I really need to stop casting on new things and finish some Christmas presents! I have three Christmas character hats that just need faces, and if I can get those done I think I’ll feel much better about my to-knit list, which is too long for comfort. How long is your Must-Knit list? Have you started focusing on gift knitting yet?