Honey Corn Cowl

I finished my Honey Corn Cowl on Boxing Day. It was exactly two weeks to the day that I started this project. There were ups and there were downs, but I’m pleased with how it turned out. I love the pattern created by the slip 1 wyif, p1 stitch work. So simple.

I found the pattern on Ravelry and got some suitable yarn at my LYS – Fine Merino Superwash DK from the Diamond Luxury Collection. Beautiful yarn to work with! The colour really grew on me as I worked, and I couldn’t help but think how it was perfect for our Pacific Northwest winters with their dark clouds and rainy days (ahem, months). It’s bright and cheery, but has a mustard, earthy tone to it that keeps it from being too bright and cheerful, if that’s possible…

The pattern called for 450 yards (412 metres) of yarn. I purchased three skeins which worked out to 411 yards (375 metres), but decided to make the large/full sized cowl – knowing that the finished piece would not be as wide as the pattern.

I used 5.00 mm circular needles with a 40 inch cable (tip to tip measures roughly 38 inches), and cast on 220 stitches in the cable cast on method. This was my first time knitting in the round. I have crocheted in the round, and I knew that you must make sure your cast on is not twisted when you join the cast on or else your piece will have a twist in it. The join was quite loose on my first attempt. I watched the Circular Needle video from KnittingHelp.com and things worked much better. [edit Jan. 3, 2012 - I've since started a second Honey Cowl, and this time nothing but this would work for me when joining. Maybe it was beginner's luck the last time?]

During the first skein, I felt as though I was working backwards more than I was making progress working forwards (so glad to know how to tink stitches! – tink is knit spelled backwards). It was super frustrating, mainly because I knew the problems I was having were because I wasn’t paying enough attention. I usually keep notes when I work, unless it’s a super easy pattern. These might be simply tally marks or row numbers to help keep track of things.

When I started this pattern, I saw that once the four rounds of knit border were done, there were only four rounds repeated the rest of the way and thought it was simple enough to keep track in my mind. How many times did I start a round 2 only to find it should have been a round 4?! Well, I soon started keeping track, but even then I would sometimes zone out (isn’t that one of the things I love about knitting?) and forget to write it down. As I progressed though, I found that I was becoming so familiar with the stitch work that I could figure things out with less frustration.

I found a decidedly unattractive little hole when changing the ball of yarn. So, I went searching for solutions on the Internet and landed upon a nice little video by Judy Graham on changing yarn colours. It worked perfectly and was so simple! As a new knitter, these little things are so frustrating. There’s no mention of them in the books I’ve looked at. Often, you just get “these are normal, don’t worry”, but I’m never satisfied with that. I just know that someone somewhere has come up with ways to do these things without a hole.

Towards the end, I started to think about how much yarn I had left and when I needed to switch to straight knit for the edge. I guess it happens with any project, worrying that you might run out of yarn. Well, I continued on, even though the debate continued in my head, and when I did switch I was rewarded with about 34 inches of yarn left after casting off!

It seems that finishing a project is the most stressful part of the whole process for me. You’ve put your all into it, sometimes there are tears, always there is something learned. Now you have to cast off (gulp), work in your ends (little buggers like to pop up no matter), and block the piece I’ll often put the work aside for a spell while I try to gather my thoughts and relax a little before taking these last steps. I really noticed my anxiety about finishing with this project. Things had been going relatively well; I didn’t want anything to happen now!

I wasn’t sure which cast off method to use, so I turned to the Internet. The Internet is a great resource, no doubt, but sometimes I can get really turned around by what I find. I’m a little frustrated by some of the knitting resources I’ve come across. I’d love to find a compendium of knitting written and reviewed by some knitting experts. For example, a list of all the various casting on and off methods with a brief annotation letting you know what each one is good for AND which casting on and off methods closely match each other in appearance. I found some information on this, but the matches didn’t look the same to me when I tried them. Anyways, I settled on a method that I found but didn’t have a name. I knit the first stitch through the back loop. This stitch was returned to the left needle. Then, I *knit two stitches together through the back loop, and the remaining stitch was returned to the left needle. *This was repeated to the end. It didn’t really look like the cable cast on, but by this point I was tired and a little frustrated and decided, since the stockinette edges curled over, it really didn’t matter. Only I would likely ever notice! (it is nice and flexible, like the cable cast on, so it had that in its favour).

     

I blocked the piece the next day, washing it first in some Revivex Wool Cleaner I luckily have for washing my multitude of wool items. I discovered and fell in love with merino a few years ago. In no time, my wardrobe was filled with deliciously warm merino items. Great for cycling since it doesn’t stink like synthetics. Even if you get caught in a rainstorm, you’re comfortable and warm, and it dries quickly, unlike cotton or synthetics.

I carefully wrung out the water from the washed cowl and rolled it inside of a towel to squeeze out as much water as I could. Already, I could see a change in the piece. Next, I set up my blocking boards (some of those interlocking mats you find in many hardware stores) on my bed with towels underneath and on top and began to pin the cowl. I’m still really unsure of the blocking process, or more correctly, if I’m doing things wright. At first, I could see that the stitch work was being pulled at an angle, and this worried me. But as I continued to work, things started to even out. I used a ruler to help make sure I was working the edges in a somewhat straight line, and I measured the piece to make sure things were equally distributed. I pulled some pins and re-pinned where necessary, and finally felt it was nearly as good as it was going to get it, plus my back was getting a little grumpy.

I closed the bedroom door, to keep curious kitties away (they chewed at my last project, to my heartbreak, thought it honestly wasn’t that bad) and tried not to worry about it too much. That night, I carefully moved the boards to the floor. I wish I had a good place to put my blocking – somewhere it could sit undisturbed, perhaps up higher so I don’t have to bend my back – but the bed and bedroom are currently the only suitable place. I was like a kid on Christmas morning when I woke up. I sprung from bed, the blocked cowl my first thought, and had a look see. It still felt a little damp, but my bedroom is quite cold. I decided to let it sit a little longer.

Unpinning the piece later, I felt a little nervous. I had read about blocking items worked in-the-round, but I couldn’t think of anything cylindrical I could use. Knowing that my folds would create a seam, I went ahead anyways. Sure enough, the stitches on these folded edges were not stretched and were therefore rather noticeable. I decided to try a light ironing to see if this would help. It helped only a little. In the end, I decided that these would just have to be part of a novice knitter’s work and hoped that the recipient would be understanding, and who knows, maybe they’ll relax a little? Anyways, if the cowl is worn how I envision, they really shouldn’t be all that noticeable.

Unblocked, the cowl measured 22.5 inches long and 8 inches wide (with edges curled). Blocked… it measured 25.5 inches long and 8 inches wide (with edges curled). So, I guess I didn’t block it very well. [ETA: I've had some time to think on this, and I had a light bulb moment where I realized finished measurements include the total circumference of the cowl - I was just measuring one half, doh!] But washing and blocking it did change the piece. Before washing, the piece felt sort of thick and kind of sturdy. After, it felt thinner, softer and, well…  drapey (which I’ve read about). Ironically, I think I liked it better before washing and blocking but admit that it looks and feels better on having been blocked. Before blocking, I could wrap the piece twice around my neck. After, I could wrap the piece three times nicely. Trying the piece on and playing with the various ways of wearing it was dangerous. I was beginning to think about not giving it away. I love it – it’s gorgeous!

So, I then took some pictures and started thinking about this blog post. It’s a long one, isn’t it? Sorry about that. I set up my camera on a self-timer and tried taking some pictures of myself wearing the cowl. They all turned out blurry. The arm’s-length pictures I took with my point and shoot turned out a little better.

   

I guess that’s it. Now I just need to give it to the recipient and hope for a better reaction than the last one. When I gave the Herringbone Neck Warmer to my coworker, they looked quite puzzled. I found out a few weeks later that they were re-gifting it to someone. I believe that once you give something to someone it’s theirs to do with as they wish. At least re-gifting might mean that it will go to someone who will like and use it rather than it sitting in a drawer somewhere. Still, I guess I wouldn’t have minded if they’d asked me if I wanted it back… or if they’d liked it and used it. But they didn’t ask me for it – I made it because I wanted to. It did take a bit of the wind out of my sails though…

Well, that’s enough rambling. Now… what should I knit next?

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