Cowl Up, Cowl up

At the knitting and stitching show I bought a lovely skein of hand- spun, hand-dyed silk from Di Gilpin. I want it to turn into a lovely cowl for my Mum.

I love cowls. They are one of the very best things to knit. I always advise beginners to knit cowls. A few of my friends have taken up knitting and they usually try a scarf first. If you are a beginner I'm sure you get massively bored and just give up knitting altogether as you struggle to finish a scarf. Cowls are knit in the round, knit up quickly and give you a chance to try different skills like lace and cables. Then when you finish you have a very useful and stylish end result. I wear my moebius cowl all the time.

So back to the silk, I thought that it would be lovely made into a lacy cowl. So first I tried the Ridged Lace Cowl which looks lovely. But when I knit up a repeat of the pattern I decided I didn't like it so much. The silk is variegated in colour and the yarn is quite thick and thin. So it didn't work with this pattern which is a pity.



So then I went searching for something more suitable. Something even more airy and lacy might do but then that wouldn't make a great cowl. I then happened on the Darkside Cowl which I thought fitted the bill. It looked as if it would show off the colours in the yarn. So I tried it and so far I'm really happy with it. When it's finished I'll put up the photos.