done and delivered

Accompanied by the usual: a handmade lavender bag

After work today I took the cowl to my friend for whom it was intended. She knew exactly what it was. And she loved it.

 

not torso

“Madonna mia,” he said.

YoungB took a couple of photos on one of the proper cameras, but then the card reader wouldn’t work. So what you have there is me horsing around with a finished object that YoungB insists is headgear rather than neckwear.

I’ll let you decide, shall I?

 

heaps good moments

Right there, just where you get to take off that row marker. How good is that?

When I’m knitting something in the round, there are a couple of moments I particularly enjoy, and one follows hot upon the heels of the other. Taking off the row marker is one.

Then you start to see the gap and you know the end is near

That’s the next bit that’s heaps good. You know you’re on the home stretch.

So, yeah, it’s taken considerably longer than three hours, and total time elapsed from start to finish probably exceeds thirty-three, but it’s done and blocking.

Dr B loves the colours but hates the cowl. I’ll admit that, at the moment, I’m entirely unconvinced by either. I suspect the yarn lends itself better to something knitted more vertically, such as a long scarf, but I’m not about to turn around and find out. And perhaps its thick/thin character isn’t as good with this garment as a yarn of more consistent thickness. Never mind. The cowl is certainly warm and, now that winter seems to have arrived, heralded by a clap of thunder and torrential downpours, the warmth is definitely the main consideration.

 

if we’re still talking multiples of three

Obviously larger now, and with the end in sight.

So that’s how far I’ve gone with the cowl. Only a few more repeats of the fancy row and I’ll be finished. It acquired some unintended dodgy bits today as I sat at the kitchen table and read a friend’s imaging report, which mentioned the dreaded “C” word. That’s probably why I either miscounted or got tangled up in a loop. No, I didn’t unpick to fix it up, just kept right on knitting; rather as we’re going to keep right on laughing through the latest lot of bad news.

I don’t see myself doing one of these for today’s visitor, even though he could probably carry it off. My poor little hands just would not cope with a lot more work on those large needles. They’re 7 mm and on straights I can manage up to about 10 mm with relative ease. Much as I love circular needles, I find them clumsier and more painful. So, you know, a mistake or two knitted in along with the love and pain? Nobody is going to notice.

I hope your knitting is progressing well and that all your news is cheerful 🙂

 

well past three hours and still no cowl

The yarn level is diminishing, so the cowl must be growing

As I’ve said many times, I’m a slow knitter. I know that. I just plod along until I get to the end, a bit the way I walk. You’d think a day of hospital visiting would be the ideal way to address that shortcoming but you’d be wrong. Maybe the visits weren’t long enough. In any case, the cowl is about half done and the colours are as bright and lovely as I’d imagined they would be. But it’s going to be more like a thirty-three-hour cowl.

 

bean(ie) counting?

Bright and cheerful and bound to be deliciously warm

You remember how I’d hoped to finish that second beanie really quickly? Yeah, I know. Dooming myself to failure at the outset, wasn’t I? It has been such a busy time at work that there was an evening last week where I was asleep at the table, face down in my dinner much the way a toddler sometimes is. You can’t count stitches and decreases in a beanie when all you’re eyeballing are your beans. And that’s my excuse for the appalling miscalculation with beanie 2, which is too small! I could perhaps wear it and one of our extremely petite female friends could certainly do so, or it could be put in a raffle as a child’s beanie. Someone, somewhere will be able to wear it. No harm done, though I don’t think I want to knit another to that pattern just yet. Something with unambiguous cables will be fine.

But in true, “You thought that was tricky? Try this!” fashion, I’ve found myself suddenly needing another cowl for a friend who’s unexpectedly about to undergo major surgery. I’ll once again knit a 3-hour cowl. It takes me longer than three hours – I’ve already had to unpick! – but it’s a quick knit even at my pace and the resulting cowl attractive as well as something different from anything you could purchase.

The yarn is I’m using Moda Vera’s Fitzroy, which I think is a new season’s release. I bought it at my LYS on Sunday while Dr B and YoungB hunter-gathered some groceries. Fitzroy is a 12 ply/bulky weight and I’m knitting it on a 7 mm circular needle. As with my previous make, I’m not following the instructions religiously, but the difference in appearance caused by my knitting the slipped stitches in situ then passing them over – rather than, as the instructions advise, moving them around then slipping and knitting – is minimal. For me, there’s less likelihood of dropped stitches and if I say that’s what it’s meant to look like, I’m sure the recipient won’t argue.

So, yeah, beanies? Not entirely 🙂