Specs…

Lucy Cowl by Heidi Hennessy

My Rav project

I used an entire kit of Pepperberry Knits Fun Size Bundle in Urbanite

This was a fun little project – all stockinette in the round.  The original pattern uses even stripes repeated twice but I did uneven stripes to change it up a bit.

In the beginning I used a random stripe generator but then I switched to just deciding on the fly.  It kinda looks like something I’d get at the Gap.  Strong colors with some shades of gray thrown in too.

I used the Magic Knot to join the colors so I didn’t have to weave in all those ends.  Total lifesaver and the joins don’t look too bad.  Here’s a view of the joins (I flipped the cowl so you could see the wrong side).  I just made sure all the joins were in the latter half of one of the repeats so I could.  If you do this type of cowl, do yourself a favor and use the Magic Knot.

I can’t stress this enough.

The cashmere is awesome against my neck and I think I might pick up another bundle at some point.  I like the different colors and the small lengths (approx 40 yards each) made for fun decisions.  If I had more yardage for each I probably would have gone with more of my shades.  It was fun to be forced out of my comfort zone.  And hey – it’s even one of my goals!

I’ll catch you on the purl side…

I CO for this one on the first of the year, knit through the first mitten in a day, knit the second ribbing and then it sat for a month.

Last weekend I just felt inspired and finished the rest of it.  Good thing too because it’s been COLD.

Specs…

Wood Hollow Mittens by Kirsten Kapur

My project on Rav

Cascade 220 Quatro in Lupin Twist – I used 200 yards of stash yarn so this counts for the MSK Stash Down KAL too!

I made 2 small mods – 1 for sanity and the other was unintentional.  The little cables flanking the big one are supposed to circle in and out but I didn’t notice it on the chart and I worked them all going out.  It’s fine but I didn’t make the conscious choice to do it.  Oops.  And then I worked lifted increases for the gusset instead of a M1.

I used a ball of yarn I bought 3 years ago for a different pair of mittens.  I’m glad to finally get this one out of my stash but in retrospect it wasn’t the best match of pattern and yarn.  The 4 different shades of plies in the yarn fight with the cables a bit.  It’s not as obvious from far away, but up close you see more of the color changes and less of the cabley goodness.

A couple other observations after a few wears:

• I made the hands too long.  It’s not the end of the world but I’ll make the next pair 3/4-1 inch shorter
• On very cold days I still feel the wind blow through the mitten a bit.  Just a bit.  As in not enough to make me want to knit a liner.  I just make a fist in the mitten and we’re good.
• One thumb is a bit shorter than the other.  I’ll keep track of the rounds next time so I can match them up perfectly.
• I don’t have a lot of opportunities to wear mittens.  The walk from my back door to my car is 7 steps, and then I park in a garage in the basement of my building at work.  It’s so cold right now that I don’t get out much.  One pair of mittens is probably good for me, but it doesn’t stop me from looking at knitting more.

All in all I’m pretty happy with this FO – the color is very me and goes well with my new Weigh It Shawl too.

I’ll catch you on the purl side.