Monday 24 September 2012

Punky Rainbow Cowl

I recently finished a delicious, squooshy cowl out of my Smooshy DK yarn in the Punky Rainbow colourway.  The pattern I used is the Cowardly Cowl by Erica Lueder.  What an addictive pattern!  The four row slip-stitch pattern is interesting, without being difficult and does an amazing job of taming and enhancing a hand-dyed variegated yarn. 

This is the yarn I used.


This is the finished cowl.

I LOVE this stitch pattern!

I knit the pattern with only one modification.  Because it called for worsted and I used DK,    I cast on either 16 or 20 more stitches than the pattern called for.  It used nearly all of one skein of Smooshy DK, an MCN yarn.  After blocking, the cowl was long enough to wear either long in one loop, or to twist into two loops, for a tighter, cozier fit.  Mmmmmmmm.  I'm thinking this is not the last of these I've knit!

Thursday 6 September 2012

Finished Objects!

I have actually managed to finish a couple things over the last few weeks.  The first thing is a baby Hoot Cardigan by Brenna Kotar.  This is an adorable top-down raglan cardigan, with cables on either side of the button band that look like little owls.  I knit this in my Smooshy DK, a merino/cashmere/nylon blend DK weight yarn, in Robot Ninja.  I still need to dig through my button stash to find just the right buttons.  (That could take a while, time seems to stand still while I search through the collection.)

Blocking
Little, Bitty Owls!
After many thoroughly enjoyable (until the last few  seemingly endless rows) hours spent knitting garter stitch stripes, I finished my Color Affection Shawl by Veera Valimacki.  Through the spring and summer this shawl has gone viral on Ravelry.  I oogled and coveted many peoples finished shawls, while trying to decide which colours to make mine out of.  Eventually I saw three yarns hanging together on my drying rack, and I fell in love.

 

These are the BFL Sock in (left to right) Chillin' Like a Villain, Robot Ninja, and Watermelon.  The pattern was excellently written.  The only change I made was to switch out the M1R and M1L for a knit-front-and-back to try to add a bit more stretch to the straight edge of the shawl.  I have also seen/read about others using a yarn over for the same reason.  I used a larger needle than called for in the pattern (it calls for a 4.0 mm and I used a 5.0 mm) and I have a hunch I used more yarn, and ended up with a larger shawl, than if I had used the 4.0 mm needles.  I just liked the slightly looser knitted fabric better.  I absolutely ADORE the finished shawl.  And quite handily, the last few days have been cool enough that I can wear it!