Thursday, February 6, 2014

Fo Fridays - Cowls, Cowls, Cowls, Wonderful Cowls

To be honest, I never really understood the point of cowls. Didn't plain ole scarfs do the trick perfectly well? But then my sister asked me to knit one for her, and I tried it on to model it for the FO photo... and suddenly I got it. Sure, scarfs would work too, but with cowls I wouldn't constantly have to worry about it coming loose and dropping one end in my food or whatever. And besides, they were fun to knit :)

So when my sister asked me to knit her another cowl, I was happy to oblige... Especially when I found the most amazingly soft yarn to use for it :) The colour in the photo is a tad dark - it's more blue IRL. It's a blue/black twist with a silk shine that makes it just gorgeous.
I knit until I ran out of yarn, and then used a plain black for the bind off to make sure I used every inch of the yarn. I actually think it makes for a nice finish - it even looks planned! ;) But binding off took FOREVER! There were 352 stitches to bind off at the end!
Pattern: Mochi Collar Cowl
Yarn: Rowan Silk Twist
Mods: Used another yarn to bind off, but that's about it :)

The second cowl has been much, much, MUCH longer underway! I found the yarn last summer and bought it with no real purpose in mind, but thinking I might use it to knit an afghan of some kind as it was so incredibly soft (yes, I have a weakness for soft yarn ;) ). I bought the pattern for Vivid, but gave up after knitting just one square. The yarn was much too loosely spun, and split like nobody's business. It would be okay for knitting straight, but lace work? Not so much.

So I frogged it, and instead cast on for the Honey Cowl. It went swimmingly to start with, and I really enjoyed the project, but as I got half way through I just got bogged down. It's a pretty straight-forward knit, and just got boring after awhile. I'd do a row here and a row there, but it was taking forever. Finally I realized I probably only had another 3 hours' work to do if I sat down and focused, so I put on a movie and got stubborn.

The result was worth every minute of the fight! The effect of the colours turned out exactly as I had hoped, it's lovely soft against my neck, and I love the way it looks both at full length and folded double. So an annoying WIP turned into a terrific FO :)

... I'm NOT in any rush to be using that yarn again any time soon though!
Pattern: Honey Cowl
Yarn: Serina by Vinnis Colours, 100% bamboo.
Mods: None.

3 comments:

  1. I have become addicted to Cowls this year also. Now to keep myself from making a million of them! A girl needs only so many. I like the Thirty-one cowl. Have done it in bulky and worsted, but Honey Cowl is still on my list to do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've never really got in to cowls, I'm more of a shawl person but worn as a kind of bib if you know what I mean? Point at the front and then the two ends crossed at the back and dangling down the front again. I love your multicoloured cowl though, especially as it's bamboo, so soft :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I really like cowls, too. They are fun to knit and surprisingly comfortable to wear. I love the way your honey cowl turned out. I used a thicker yarn, and the one I've made is a bit too bulky.

    ReplyDelete