To emphasise my yarn gluttony I will share one of my latest projects with you. I can tell you, in this particular case I have NO regrets! The yarn concerned is rather spectacular and is Skein Merino Silk Sport and I got it from the sale section of Loop. I'm sorry to sling temptation your way, but there are still some skeins left..... If you clicked on the link you can see that there was quite a substantial discount (27%), which was the only way I could afford one skein. That one skein was worth every penny I paid. It was glorious! If only I could afford enough to make a whole garment....
Obviously I needed to find the right project to highlight this glory, and I wracked my brains until I remembered the Honey Cowl, that I'd first read about on the Mason-Dixon blog. Kay might have had a slight addiction to the pattern. The pattern is free by MADELINETOSH and emphasises and shows off lovely yarn. It seemed perfect, even though the pattern seemed to be a bit of headache, what with all the slipped stitches with yarn in front. I thought it would be worth the headache though, so I cast on, even though it was written for a DK weight yarn.
You know what, it wasn't a headache. In fact, it was great mindless knitting and I can see why Kay might have got addicted. I LOVE how this yarn is made even more beautiful by the stitch pattern. All the little flecks of colour are brought into focus by the yarn carried in front of the slipped stitches. I even like the rolled stocking stitch edges, despite my initial reservations. That will teach me to doubt the popularity of a pattern on Ravelry!
I adore how great the cowl looks, but I love how it feels even more. It is soft and light and warm. It makes me feel like my neck is being caressed by a warm breeze. I cannot state strongly enough how much I love this cowl. I know I will make it again, probably quite soon. I think we all know that when I find something I like, I make a few before I get bored (Sockhead Hat anyone?).
I cast on the number of stitches for the larger size and then did the initial stocking stitch portion. I then weighed the skein to work out how much yarn would be needed to do the finishing stocking stitch portion. I then knit until I had nearly that amount of yarn left and started the stocking stitch portion and then cast off. I was so pleased that I didn't waste any yarn as I only had a few metres left. I used 4mm needles because I knit quite loosely and this is a Sport weight and I think the resulting fabric of the cowl worked really well.
Can you believe I had a brief moment of madness when I considered putting this in my Christmas gift box? Don't worry, it didn't last very long. How could I give this away when it is so perfectly my colours? That's always been my problem, I buy yarn for my tastes so of course all the resulting projects always appeal to me so much I find it hard to give them away. Ah well, maybe I can whip another one up from my stash yarn for someone else, or maybe I'll keep that one too!
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Just in case you missed the announcement, the new episode of my podcast is up and the show notes and a streaming version of the the podcast can be found here.
Enjoy your weekend!
