Yarns: K-Zip Knits Waterfront Worsted in Sterling and Blacklight
Needles: US9s
This cowl turned out to be a decent size. It is on the smaller side and I didn’t gauge swatch so I’m not surprised. But its warm, soft and very serviceable. I am still deciding if this will be a keeper or a gift.
My Windowpanes cowl just sort of flew off the needles! It probably helps that it is worsted weight yarn and the stitch count decreases as you go.
I still have the live stitches on the needs that will need grafted to the short section on the bottom right. I used my wires to stretch the daylights out of this as I am worried the neck opening will be small.
It’s now drying by the fire, so I am hoping it dries quickly and I can finish this one up! Happy Knitting!!
I think I have finally got the hang of my Windowpanes cowl. I had a zoom knit night this past weekend and cranked out several pattern repeats.
I am SUPER glad that this gets grafted at the end. The slipped stitches are causing some curling. Now, I know blocking will also help some as well. For now I’m just cruising in this pattern until I hit 7 inches of finished fabric.
If you have been following my blog this week, you might have keened that I have a case of Cast-On-Itis, lol. Next up is the project I had intended to be my Christmas Eve Cast On. But I didn’t get around to getting that organized thanks to germs and a lack of bandwidth. But I have sorted the cast on now!
I chose Windowpanes by Jill Ramos as its a worsted weight bandana style cowl. I pulled two coordinating skeins of worsted by K-Zip Knits from my stash. I started this once on US 9s and HATED the loose fabric. So I ripped back and started again on US 7s and that made me much happier.
I did have to use my plastic needles from WAY back when I started knitting. Not my ideal needles but I couldn’t lay hands on any other US 7s and I really just wanted to knit. The pattern is pretty straight forward and I have 7 inches of this pattern to do before moving on.
Yarn: Mrs Crosby Hat Box in Pansy (purple), green variagated mystery sock yarn, Spunky Eclectic Spunky Sock in Wild Child (pink) and Shibui Knits Staccato in Raspberry
Needles: US 6
Mods: None
This was a really good stash buster. I didn’t use up any of the yarns completely but I did crank out a project that used 873 yards of yarn or roughly the equivalent of two skeins of sock yarn. Can’t beat that! And I have enough of each color to add at least one square on my mitered square memory blanket.
I couldn’t be happier with the color fade. These random skeins look almost like they were designed for each other! These photos are all from the front. I did not photo graph my duplicate stitch on the back. I’m not happy with it….I may rip it out and redo it. Just not today.
Bonus….this will be incredibly warm and very snuggly. I can wear it down and tucked inside my jacket. Or it pulls up nicely to cover my face on a super cold day. I would make this pattern again…but maybe for a gift? I’m not sure I need more than one of these in my wardrobe based on how long it stays cold here.
Isn’t this just so pretty?? I can’t stop petting and staring at this project! The Volcano Trail is all done save the duplicate stitch on the back.
My mattress stitching skills didn’t turn out to shabby! I am pretty happy with the seam. You can still totally tell where the line is but I didn’t predict that it would disappear being as its garter stitch.
Now I just need to knuckle under and get through the duplicate stitch. Which for me, I am sloppy at and never looks as polished I had hoped. So while not difficult, I do not look forward to that particular technique. I know I just need more practice on it but I don’t have to be happy about it either, lol.
My Volcano Trail cowl is two (maybe three) steps from being completely done!
I got the last section completed last week and Monday during my knit night I carefully hemmed down the stockinette cuff/edge. It was TEDIOUS but it does look extremely polished and makes a nice edge.
I still need to pick up and hem the cast on edge. Then I believe I will seam shut the main body where I knit flat. Pretty sure I will have to do the googles on how to mattress seam this much garter stitch. The final step is to duplicated a slipped stitch to mirror the front. SUPER not looking forward to that. But I will do it anyway, lol.
I am in the home stretch for my Volcano Trail. I can’t quit this project. It’s just plain addictive!
I have just started section four where I am marling the Green and Purple together. I think after this I do some secret sauce and then I will end with a solid purple cuff/edge. I feel like a broken record, but I really really love how these colors are working out!
I’m still working back and forth (aka flat) but I think the cuff will be back in the round. I have also been making good use of my yarn cozies. They have helped my smaller and slightly collapsed skeins from getting tangled. I will definitely need more of these in my life!
My Volcano Trail cowl is whizzing right along. I am now adding my mystery skein of green sock yarn and this time I’m doing it correctly!
I am solidly in section four and getting ready to start section five. As with most of my projects where I hold yarn double…..I still fixing my mistakes where I don’t get both strands in both stitches. Sigh….
The only yarn I have left to fade in is a purple speckled/variegated skein of Ms. Crosby’s Hat box. I am thinking it will blend nicely. I am intrigued to see how I will end up seaming this up an what the finish will look like. Its in the 90s here in Kansas so I won’t be needing what will about to a DK weight cowl anytime soon!
So my Volcano Trail hit a speed bump. I had grossly misinterpreted the pattern and had my color changes ALLLLL wrong. So I had to pull back a full section of my cowl….sigh
Basically I jumped right to adding the third color (green) instead of slowing fading through the pink where you hold it double with itself. It wasn’t too bad to get back on the needles because with I just fed my needle through the top loops of the garter bumps and I then I was free to pull out the work above it. I did have to fix about 1/3 of the stitches where I accidently got down a row.
My brain had been looking at the green and it did look quite jarring. I MUCH prefer the slow pink fade that I have now. It’s a lot more subtle and beautiful. I have been making this my go-to after the kids go to bed knitting. It’s great tired mommy brain knitting while I binge my latest show.