Saturday Stash

This was the week of the cowl.

It started with a 'how can I use this bulky yarn?' and became the Sage Leaf Cowl.  Easy recipe: take one ball of bulky yarn and a 16 to 24 inch circular needle (I used 6mm).  Cast on enough stitches to give you about 28 inches circumference.  Join in a circle and - this is the best part - keep that twist in the stitches that you're never supposed to have when knitting in the round.  Knit until almost all the yarn runs out.  Cast of loosely.  Time needed: a couple of hours.

I used seed stitch because I wanted it to look like this real sage leaf.  But you could use garter stitch for a cushy feel.  Or ribbing for more structure.  Anything that is reversible would be perfect. The twist step came about because I was trying to figure out how to approximate a moebius cowl without doing the special cast on. 

I was having so much fun with the cowls that I pulled out another ball of worsted weight this time and went looking for a pattern which would be easy.  I loved the mix of textures in the Infinitude Scarf  by Jeni Chase and the multiple ways to wear it.

It was so soft and warm I didn't want to take it off.  You can make it twice as long (it's actually a circle) and wrap it around your neck more times or have two long loops.  Or make the extra loop a headscarf to keep your ears warm, too. You could make it wider with more rows of whatever stitch you liked.  Time for my version: three hours.    I'm planning a search for some more yarn for the longer version.

I finished the purple scarf.  Pretty as it is it wasn't nearly as exciting as the cowls.  Nor as quick - probably because I wasn't as excited about it.  All of the above are for donation.  Now that the weather is a bit more fall-like, I think people will be looking on the craft sale shelf for some transitional warmers.  Fingerless mitts are coming, too.  That's next week's show.