It's Cowl Season

Just 'cause I'm not bloggin' doesn't mean I'm not knittin'! January and February have been all about knitting, mostly on a cable-cum-bobbles explosion of a stole that I started in 2007, during my first flirtation with knitting, which was quickly aborted after said cable-bobble monster produced less fun than frustration. Of the eight skeins of yarn I carried with me over the years I have one left, so I can't be far from the finishing line. But man, I'm tired of that thing. (There's some sort of action in every single RS row. Seriously, who recommends a pattern like that to a novice? And the yarn... yuck. I mean, it's got cashmere in it, but mainly it's acrylic. Ugh.)

Of course I'm not a monogamous knitter, and I spiced up my self-inflicted bobble-boredom by making two cowls. I'm obsessed with cowls (infinity scarves?) these days and want to make a hundred of them (like this one, and this, and this). Seriously, cowls are awesome. They give every outfit that certain something, they keep you warm and cozy, they hide stains on your shirt, they cover up a v-neck that has gotten too big in the laundry. They are... perfect.

The December cowl was just a start. These two followed in quick succession:

The Herringbone Cowl. Made of yum yum yum Shibui Knits Baby Alpaca DK in Cranberry (X-mas gift from DH). Pure love. (But a b. to make.) (Nevermind that. I'm making another one. With Cascade Eco Wool, I think.)

And then the Moebius Cowl by Cat Bordhi. Everyone's got to try a Moebius, right? And I had two skeins of luscious Lush by Classic Elite. Matched with Shibui Silk Cloud it's fuzzy decadence.

Granted, this isn't the oversized style I usually go for. But I have a deep v-neck sweater in exactly that color that I'm too prudish (too professional?) to wear to work, yet with the cowl it's a perfect teaching outfit. Plus, it is sooooooo soft.

Currently on the needles: something in HOT! PINK! I hope to show it soon.

FO: Maximus

The Maximus cowl should be called Minimus, since it takes minimal time to make it. I started it last Thursday at knit night, didn't touch it until last night, and voila, here it is (many apologies for the cell phone pictures... camera, camera cable, and computer are in three different rooms, two of which are occupied by the German crowd):

I was in need of an emotional pick-me-up after last week's health scare, thus I wanted to make something that provided instant gratification knitwise as well as snuggly warm comfort for months to come.

Baby Chunky caught my eye when in the store last week, and I couldn't resist the color ("barley"). To finish the cowl I went back to Blazing Needles; it was owner Cynthia's birthday today and half of Salt Lake City popped in to congratulate her. It was a fabulous birthday party! (While there I started a new project, using delicious new yarn DH got me for Christmas--but I was too chatty and too distracted at the shop and made half a dozen mistakes in the swatch alone.)

A Noble Idea...

it was to knit a X-mas gift for a friend of ours whom we're meeting for dinner and drinks tonight. Since the idea came only on Monday, I decided on something small, and after stash-diving and Ravelry-browsing I matched two skeins of Di.vé Autunno with Emily Kausalik's A Noble Cowl. Entirely wrong weight/needle size/gauge, but what does it matter for a cowl...? I simply cut out two pattern repeats, casting on 90 instead of 120 stitches. This made the cowl more snug, but it also guaranteed that I didn't run out of yarn and--most importantly--it cut down knitting time.

The result:

I hope she likes it...?! (If so, you'll hear about it here. If not, I shall not mention it.)

PS: I quite enjoyed this article in the NYT (on the return of well-dressed men), and of the fashion blogs it mentions, this one is entertaining. I sent the article to the Hubs but have not yet received a response...