A Note to all those making their own patterns from things that came out of their head and made from hand spun yarn: Keep a small sample of the yarn!
Another Note: Mark down your gauge! You don't want to be one of those people that asks if your friend (who fortunately is a knitter and spinner and knows what you're talking about) could get the gauge from the gift you gave them. I have not done that, someone I know did though...
So I wrote my pattern down and took my little sample of yarn and measured the WPI (wraps per inch). The yarn was 12 WPI. That means it is a DK weight yarn.
This is the handspun yarn I made for the original cowl and my WPI tool from Nancy's Knit Knacks
I went to my yarn stash and found something similar in weight. The selected yarn was something my mother picked up for me when she visited Ireland. The denim blue tweed will make an appearance in the coming future, but if you'd like to see the yarns spun by Donegal Yarns you can visit their website and buy some of their beautiful tweed yarn! So with this supple Aran Tweed yarn I made the cowl from the pattern I had wrote.
Here comes another Note: Write down your needle size!
The cowl that I made, following my instructions, was done on size 5.0 mm needles. The finished piece would have fit a baby. Now my friend will say that she is short, and yes she does have a beautiful child like complexion, but she is by no means a child, let alone a baby. She is a wonderful spunky lady, whom I hold very close to my heart for having the privilege of working close with them for quite a few years. I've digressed...
So I pulled about half the cowl out and got the stitches back on the needle. Now knitters, have faith! Pull your needle out and take out work as much as you want, it will only make you a better knitter. When I reinsert my needle I don't care how the stitches are facing, I've knitted enough stitches to know how untwisted knit stitches look on my needle and how I need to insert my needle to correct the misplacement.
I needed to do some re figuring with my pattern if I wanted it to come out with this yarn, on these needles, and in this gauge. This time around my gauge is 11 stitches to 3 inches. My hypothesis for the original is that it was on a gauge of 2.5 stitches to the inch.
Here is what some of you have been waiting for:
The Handkerchief Cowl Instructions:
Choose your yarn and make a swatch. You'll need about 160m/176yds of yarn for this project. For this time around try and get something relatively close to the 11 stitches to 3 inches gauge. This is going to be a bit of a mystery knit-a-long so to speak for those of you willing to partake. However, for those of you less comfortable, a real pattern will be coming very shortly.
Once you have your yarn and needles set for the gauge begin by casting on 2 stitches, then knit those two stitches. Now, slip the first stitch purlwise, M1 (make one by hanging a backwards loop on your need to increase a stitch) and knit the last stitch; there are now three stitches. Generally, I slip the first stitch purlwise of every row, so I'm encouraging you to do so on this project; doing so gives you a very nice edge. Next row Sl 1, M1, K1, M1, K1, turn and knit those 5 stitches. Continue making this garter stitch edging until there are 9 stitches. After you have done your M1 row, turn and K4, P1, K4.
Now we have created a little triangle of 9 stitches, 4 garter stitches on either side of one stockinette stitch.
Next row: K4, yo, K1, yo, K4. turn K4, P3, K4. This is the basic principle of the cowl body: K4, yo, Knit to last four stitches, yo K4. Turn, K4, Purl to last four stitches, K4. Now continue this until there are 67 stitches between the garter stitch borders.
The next step to come!
Topics to look forward to:
What do you think about when knitting, or doing some other fiber craft?
Reading your Knitting
Why do you knit?
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