FO: Reunion Cowl

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Rayna

Sometimes, a gal just needs mindless knitting. There are knit nights, lunch hours with a friend, airports and parent visits. These things all require knitting where I am not trying to remember where the cable crosses are, or how many knit stitches between the YOs and k2togs.

Enter, the Reunion Cowl. Utterly brainless knitting that can be done just about anywhere. And when it’s done with indigodragonfly MCN Lace (now known as MerGoat Lace), it’s pure pleasure to knit.

This is my second of these; the first was knit in a OOAK blue-green colourway in late 2012. But I was always wishing for a red one and Kim and Ron created this lovely colouway a few years back that just cried out to be my newest cowl.

MCN/MerGoat Lace in “Only The Exact Word Word I Used Was ‘Don’t'”

It took a while to knit up, mostly because it was my carry around knitting so I wasn’t entirely devoted to it. I love the way it turned out. Long enough to double up for extra warmth and wonderfully soft and squishy.

I made a couple of alterations, including knitting the first set of garter rounds as flat rows and doubling up the number of eyelet rows to add both visual and knitting interest.

I am sure this won’t be my last one of these. They are a nice change from plain-ish socks when I am looking for easy knitting.

Pattern: Reunion Cowl by Natalie Selles

Yarn: indigodragonfly MCN/MerGoat Lace in “Only The Exact Word Word I Used Was ‘Don’t'”

Who Was It Made For? Me

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? Added extra eyelet rows to alleviate boredom, and knit the first garter section and seamed it to help avoid twisting my cast on and to avoid purling. I have an unnatural aversion to purling, especially when the rounds are some 300+ stitches long.

Did I Learn Anything New? No

Anything Else? Not that I recall.

Would I Make Another?: Likely!

Knowing When to Say “I Give”

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Rayna

In the summer of 2011, the indigodragonfly group on Ravelry hosted a summer KAL. It was a lot of fun for me as I was a mostly new knitter and had never done one before. I didn’t win the prize for “Most Overcommitted” but I did win the prize for “Best Enabler”. In addition to enabling others, I managed to squeeze in some time to knit a few things for myself, although admittedly far fewer than I had planned.

One of them was a lovely cowl from MCN Sport, a most lovely and squooshy DK weight yarn that I have adored ever since, using a Chrissy Prange pattern called “It’s Only Geometry”. I had purchased two skeins of a gorgeous burgundy red called “When I Bit Into Him, I Could Hear The Ocean” (fans of the TV show, “Angel”, will recognize that as a Drusilla quote from the Season 2 episode, “Darla”), and used most of one skein for the cowl.

Geometry Bites

I kept the remaining skein, promising myself I would make gloves from it to go with the cowl. I dutifully put the cowl away in a drawer, so that when the gloves were done, the cowl would be pristine and I could wear them as a pretty set.

Fast forward approximately two and a half years…you have three guesses where that second skein of yarn is. Yep…still right where I left it, in my stash. This morning, I felt like wearing red in honour of Chinese New Year, so I went into my drawer and hauled out the cowl and wore it. The yarn has been queued for months now for a pair of fingerless mitts, but maybe I will use it to design my own “matching” pair of mitts.

Or maybe, this time next year…the yarn will still be sitting in stash. Yep…that seems a lot more likely.

FO: Slipped Stitch Cowl

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Rayna

I finished another little project on the weekend.

I made two hats for my friend and work manager, Atoy last year. Each left me with half a skein of the yarn left which I just left in stash waiting for a new project.

The first half-skein ended up becoming a matching cowl for her Christmas present last year, and the second was supposed to become something for Christmas this year but my Christmas knitting sorta went off the rails. So I got her something else and the yarn sat. Last week, she started complaining (in a silly, hint-y sort of way) that she had a cowl to match her brown hat but not her pink one. So I started designing a lacy cowl for her. She commented that she really didn’t care if it was fancy; she just wanted something that matched. Since the original hat I made wasn’t lacy either, something simple would actually be a better match. I had already cast on 108 stitches and knit four rows of garter, so I figured I’d slip every sixth stitch, a la Malabrigo Neck Thingie and “Bob’s yer uncle!”

Atoy’s Slipped Stitch Cowl

Pattern: Inspired by Malabrigo Neck Thingie by Anne Sahakian

Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Yellow Label

Who Was It Made For? My friend, Atoy

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? Since I didn’t follow the pattern exactly, this question is not really applicable. 108 stitch cast on.

Did I Learn Anything New? No.

Anything Else? No. Moves another skein of yarn into the Stashdown2013 pile, which is very happy-making.

Would I Make Another?: Probably. It was super easy and the result is remarkably pretty when done in a nicely dyed yarn. The main thing? The recipient loves it.

FO: Bandana Cowl

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Rayna

Presenting my first FO of 2013!

My husband, Chase, has been after me for some time now, to knit him several items, including cowls, fingerless mitts, and hats, so after reviewing “his” yarn stash (yarn either picked out by him or claimed by him once it got into our home) last week, this cowl went to the top of the list.

The yarn, Mirasol Sulka in the ever descriptive colourway “210”, came from the “Magic Bag of Doooom”, a bag of varying yarns and spinning fibres given to me my a friend, Jacqueline, last autumn while she was preparing to move. Her message said it was a bag that she’d leave on her porch for me and it turned out to be a massive trash bag that I could barely lug to the car and that barely fit in my trunk. Once I got it home and opened it, it was like a clown car…one fibre-y surprise after another. To this day, I still regret not documenting if for blog purposes. But I digress.

So on New Year’s Eve, when I was not in the mood for anything else I had on needles, I cast this on for Chase, and by halfway through New Year’s day it was done. And we even went to a party at 9:30….so not exactly a time consuming knit,

Bandana Cowl

I actually love how it turned out. The triangle peak in the front is great for V-necked coats, and the yarn is SO squooshy (a single ply blend of merino, alpaca and silk), it’s makes a very cozy FO, especially after having given it a bath in Soak for an hour or so. I did not love knitting with the yarn as it was somewhat splitty, but the FO was well worth it, and it’s not like it was weeks of torture or anything.

So in summary (with credit to my friend Christina for inspiration on the summary format):

Pattern: Bandana Cowl by Purl Soho

Yarn: Mirasol Sulka in 210 (a lovely neutral taupe-y colour)

Who Was It Made For? Chase

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? One less neck repeat, as it was looking very high and I was running short on yarn, plus since each repeat reduces the number of stitches, I was concerned about it fitting over his head. Chase is actually glad I shortened it.

Did I Learn Anything New? No, but I think I got a better handle on short rows.

Anything Else? The FO is WAY bigger than it looks in the pattern pics. Not in a bad way, I was just really surprised.

Would I Make Another?: Absolutely! It was easy and fast, and as I too have a V-necked, pea-coat-style jacket, this would seriously come in handy. I might try it in some yummy worsted or aran weight yarn (like indigodragonfly MCS Worsted or something) to see if it will work. Since it uses a US10 needle, that just might do it.