Tuesday 28 February 2012

The Knitty Gritty

Hi today I have a bit of knitting to share. When I saw the cowl pattern in the latest Mollie Makes I wanted to start knitting right away. However reading through the pattern I saw that it used a provisional cast on and a three needle cast off. What? I am in no way an expert knitter and I hadn't attempted either of those things before.
But I was willing to give it a try and after a bit of investigation on You Tube it all became a bit clearer. Using super chunky yarn it knitted up quickly and didn't require much concentration and in no time at all I found I'd finished.

It's typical that I finish it just as the weather seems to have got milder but I can see that it might be good draped around the shoulders for cool summer evenings sitting outside.

I found some fairly inexpensive yarn to knit my cowl, Serenity by Wendy which is around £3.00-£3.50 a ball and I used 3. Of course if you don't want to double wrap your cowl you could use less. Serenity is a super chunky yarn and is made up of 10% wool, 20% alpaca and 70% acrylic and knitted on 10mm needles. Knitted up in this double seed stitch it gives a lovely texture, I may just knit another because as my friend Sonja says you can't have too many cowls :-)

10 comments:

Sian said...

I think she's right! remember the days when we called them "snoods"? Or were snoods something different? t's all so long ago..

It looks fantastic and you have persuaded to have a go at the three needle thing myself!

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Oh I love this, Amanda! Isn't it amazing what you can learn from watching YouTube videos? Your cowl is lovely and looks so soft and warm! I've been thinking about making one (crocheted) but our weather is warming up now too, and it's hard to think about making warm stuff with spring upon us.

alexa said...

Looks beautifully soft and taupe is one of my favourite colours ...

Sandra said...

After reading the first paragraph, I then got to the part, where you said you'd done some searching and knitted this!!! Well, I had to go back and check, yes you actually said you weren't a expert knitter! Well, I disagree 100% lol. This is amazing. I picked up my mollie makes today, oh I love that magazine

Lou said...

i remember them as snoods too!!

It does look fantastic and i'm sure it'll get plenty of wear.

ForgedinPaper said...

Fab. I'm officially jealous!!! and of course you can never have enough along with leg warmers :-). I just have to work out how to do them as well.

debs14 said...

What did we do without Youtube?
You've knitted this so beautifully, and as I'm not sure we've seen the end of the bad weather, I think you could get lots of wear out of it before Spring officially arrives!

Anonymous said...

Ooh Mand, this is fab! You are so multi-talented.

Alana said...

Fantastic knitting:) love the cowl.

Nathalie said...

Every time I visit here I am in awe of your multi faceted talents! I would love to wear this right now!