I Had An Itch To Knit
The last time I was in the city I happened to come across 1 lb bags of mill ends in the department store. True, I had promised myself no new yarn purchases this year but this one particular bag just wouldn't leave my hand, even though I knew it was probably acrylic...
It's a downy soft singles yarn in a dove grey - my totally greatest weakness color! Now before I knit with any unmarked yarn I always do a bit of fiber testing. First I burnt a bit and although it did the synthetic-melt thing I also smelled a strong aroma of burning hair. Hey! That means some "wool content"! I just knew that yarn this color couldn't be all bad! So I immersed a strand in chlorine bleach and about 20 - 30% of it disappeared! Yup! Wool content! I was delighted! Although I confess to always wondering "what" commercial yarn it actually is.
Since I haven't cast on a new knitting project in 6 months (mostly because I have about 10 UFO's sitting around) I had been toying with the idea of making myself a capelet or oversize cowl for those chilly mornings in my office. All I wanted was a warm neck and shoulders, something I could wear and work in without it falling off the way my shawls always do. I started out with several patterns and ended up following none of them! Typical me!
I did follow the idea of this being a quick knit (read: instant gratification) project and used 15mm needles with the yarn double stranded. It made a smooshy, plush fabric, let me tell you! It only took a matter of a few hours not days to make the project, complete with decadently huge cables and a loose oversize ribbed collar. Mostly I was just winging it, once I made a tension swatch and figured out how many stitches to cast on so I could get it over my head. Here is the end result, which I am very pleased with!
Since I haven't cast on a new knitting project in 6 months (mostly because I have about 10 UFO's sitting around) I had been toying with the idea of making myself a capelet or oversize cowl for those chilly mornings in my office. All I wanted was a warm neck and shoulders, something I could wear and work in without it falling off the way my shawls always do. I started out with several patterns and ended up following none of them! Typical me!
I did follow the idea of this being a quick knit (read: instant gratification) project and used 15mm needles with the yarn double stranded. It made a smooshy, plush fabric, let me tell you! It only took a matter of a few hours not days to make the project, complete with decadently huge cables and a loose oversize ribbed collar. Mostly I was just winging it, once I made a tension swatch and figured out how many stitches to cast on so I could get it over my head. Here is the end result, which I am very pleased with!
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