Linen stitch cowl

Pattern/Technique: Jessica Jones Cowl by Handmade by Smine

Modifications: n/a

Materials: 1 skein Cece’s Wool Sock (3 ply fingering weight, 88% SW merino, 12% nylon, 490yds / 115g) in Rhinebeck 23 colorway

US9 24” ChiaoGoo SS circular knitting needle

New skills: EZ Sewn Bind Off

Lessons/Notes: While knitting the main fabric I held the tension in my working yarn fairly tightly so that I would have a nice structured fabric. I probably also could have achieved this more consistently by going down a needle size. I think there was some slight increase in tension toward the middle/top of the cowl vs. the bottom, but nothing overtly noticeable given the subtle variation in the variegated tones.

The cowl pattern called for 100g of fingering weight wool, so I knit until I had a small ball left then started weighing the ball and stopped knitting when my ball was 15g. (I certainly could have knit that remaining 15g but I love this colorway and would like to use my remnant as a pop of color on another knitting/weaving project.)

This is a very long cowl, which ends up having a really nice height and proportionality even as it slouches down around the neck.

What I'd do differently: The bound off edge looks a little bit rustic, so if I make this again I might research ways to get a more even finish when binding off linen stitch (e.g. perhaps 1 round knitting all stitches to have an even row of loops before binding off?)

Care: hand wash, dry flat

Colette Cowl

"Some [projects] are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." With apologies to Francis Bacon, this cowl was absolutely the latter. This is probably one of the most challenging knitting projects I've tackled and took nearly 3 years to complete. I'm a big fan of the FO and my mom (to whom I gifted it) was thrilled, but I'm not sure if I'll be making another any time soon.

Pattern: Colette cowl knit in Lux Adorna artists palette. Used size 7 16" circular needle.

New skills: Kitchener stitch

Lessons: Save learning two-handed fair isle for smaller projects like hats. I knit just over half the cowl knitting two-handed, but getting correct tension while learning continental was so hard and I wasn't having fun. I frogged the part of the checked section I was working on (I was already done the hearts), and restarted using English only and switching my working yarn. Much faster / more comfortable.

A tail 4x the circumference of the cowl left just enough to Kitchener stitch all the way around.

Using some vinegar while blocking works to prevent the dye from bleeding.

By thoughtfully sewing in ends (pulling the tail away from the previously knit section, and taking care to sew into colored blocks instead of white ones) the gaps around the seam stabilized and looked very clean on the FO.

What I'd do differently: Something weird happened at where I'd joined my round while Kitchener stitching. I did my best to clean it up, but it's still a little wonky. I want to spend more time practicing this technique. Otherwise, I'm very happy with the changes I made midway through the project – they saved a lot of pain and regret down the line.