A Finished Winter Warmer

Well I finally got around to taking my photos of the Winter Warmer, I told you about a couple of weeks ago.  Here it is:

I have been wearing this for over a week now and I've come the conclusion it works well when worn like I am in the above photo, though it is a bit loose around the chin so a draft hits the neck in high winds.  However, when you try and lift the bottom half up around your nose, as was shown in the original pattern photos, for when it is really drafty, it looks a bit silly and I have to hunch my shoulders to get it to stay up.  See for yourself:

Essentially, my ribbing is too loose.  If I was to knit this again, and I may well do one day, I would use smaller needles for the ribbing section.  It wouldn't be easy to do, but I think it would be doable if I used two circular needles for knitting in the round.  Another solution might be to make the ribbing section smaller, so the  opening wasn't as wide.

I think to fix this problem, I will buy some knitting elastic, and weave it through the couple of rows nearest to the "face hole".

When the hood is worn back, the cowl portion of this accessory is very very snug indeed.

Wearing it this way is wonderfully warm.  Which is why I'm determined to fix the little gaping problem.  I know it could be a fantastic way of keeping warm.  In fact, what I did the other day was wear my Central Park Hoodie under my Winter coat and put the hood up, then I put the Winter Warmer over the top with the hood up.  Now THAT was cozy!  So I may also try it with a hat on underneath the hood, but I have high hopes for the knitting elastic solution.  I'll keep you posted.

If you want to look at some other finished objects, click on the buttonshown below.  I'm sure you will be inspired, I know I always am!

Halfway Hood

This "Halfway Hood" is my take on a cowl. I have lots of hats, I have lots of scarves, but I don't have any cowls. I bought a couple of skeins of gorgeous Colinette Point 5 yarn in colourways that worked well together (well they did on my monitor). I was pretty lucky that when the yarn arrived it worked as well in the flesh, if not better.

The hood is knit length-ways, with short row shaping in the centre, to make it easier to wear over the head. The shaping isn't too pronounced as I wanted to be able to wear it loosely round my neck as well as like a hood.

When I cast off along the long edge, I kept the last stitch on the needle and then picked up along the adjacent short edge and then knit a couple rows, binding off in the centre a couple of stitches for the button hole and then casting on again on the next row.

I sewed the button on the opposite end. I actually finished my Halfway Hood last week but only got the button recently. I decided to wait to show you the finished garment as I didn't want to show you a pile of yarn on the floor, it just wouldn't show you how it worked.

I love the colours that I chose and how they work together. I'm very happy with how the Halfway Hood worked out too. If I was to do anything different next time, I would probably make the long edge very slightly shorter and increase the short row shaping by a couple of rows. But other than those small adjustments I am really happy with how this looks. I'm hoping that it will help keep my ears warm when I am out and about on my mobility scooter on cold afternoons. I'll let you know how it goes.