NOTE: THE PDF PATTERN WILL BE POSTED LATER TODAY! Having Technical Difficulties, and wordpress won’t support my Excel document… I’ll get on it and post A.S.A.P.
Cowls seem to be all the rage now. I suppose it’s for a number of reasons. Firstly, they are super stylish, but best of all they are oh so easy to make. It’s essentially just a tube, made even better when you can knit it in the round. Knit one on some Addi-Turbo needles it should take no time at all. You can make it smaller for a snug, turtleneck-like cowl. Or you can cast on a bunch of stitches and knit a big long tube for drapey, scrunchie goodness. I decided to go somewhere in the middle on this one. I didnt want it too tight, but I also didn’t want a big old cowl either.
The star stitch is knit on the purl side of the fabric, so in this pattern you knit it inside out and then turn it right side out to wear. Just a few tips, if your cast on stitches are a little bit tight, sometimes it helps to knit one row before joining the round. Also remember that to get the seed stitch border you need to knit your purls and purl your knits.
Also the end of the rounds travel around this pattern in a bit of a spiral. This ensures a seamless transition as your star stitch repeats. If it sounds daunting, no worries. Once you do a few rounds it will make perfect sense.
The finished cowl measures 11 x 7 inches laid flat, and 22 inches around.
Yarn: One skein (228 yards) of Manaos Del Uraguay Rittenhouse wool for the cowl as shown. I actually had a small bit of wool left over.
Needle: US5 16inch circular needle.
Darning needle, stitch marker.
Gauge: 6 stitches and 4 rows per inch in star stitch.
Now for some easy math. You can alter this gauge to suit you. As long as you can pull the cowl over your head you are good to go, and you can make it as high as you like, though you may need more yarn than noted above. Just knit a swatch in the star stitch pattern and see how many stars per inch you get, then multiply four (the number of stitches in a star) by the circumference of the cowl you desire. For example:
I knew I wanted my cowl to be just big enough to slip comfortably over my head which is 22 inches around. I had a star and a half per inch, which is 6 stitches. 6 x 22 = 132 stitches cast on. Easy!
Now say you wanted a big slouchy cowl, but in the same yarn at the same gauge. You want it to be 32 inches around. 6 x 32 = 192 stitches. You would also probably want to knit it till it was a good 15 inches or so long. You would get a nice slouchy cowl that you could pull up over your head.
You could pull mine up over your head, too. However it would leave the back of you neck exposed and chilly. Probably not so nice. :O)
Happy knitting!!
My Christmas wish came early. I was hoping for a white Christmas, I can’t remember the last time I had one. I know there are still about three weeks to go, but since the past couple of days have been so warm, I was thinking there was no way I was getting my wish.
The grassy knoll took on a frosty look
Falling gently, it was more like tiny hail balls
Good job I set about chopping wood early
Then the flakes began falling
And then it started stick
and we were covered in a veil of snow
The stream is still flowing
Cutting it's way through the land
The last of the leaves cling on
Everything looks so pretty covered in the first snow
Delicate puffs of snow where flowers once were
A reminder of summer, Tiny Terror's cement mixer buried in the gravel pit
A dark pool of calm in a white flurry
Winter reflections
Time to go in for some Hot Chocolate
And the snow kept coming.
At dusk
The lights are all aglow
An eerie stillness hangs in the air
A vintage postcard
As the sun rise, glimpses of orange glow through the trees
Over the hill and through the woods
Evidence of guests in the night
A hint of warmth reflected in the icy depths
Tis the season to party, so make sure every inch of you from head to toe is pretty. This is a project I worked on a few months ago, but think they would make great stocking stuffers and gifts. It would also be a great pass the time activity for winters day while watching a movie.
A black and silver cameo and silver floral trim
Trim close up
Vintage ribbon with metallic trim appilque flowers
The red felt inside not only stops the band slipping it matches the red elastic and pick ups the red in the flowers
A matching hair clip, my plant was more than willing to model
Shimmering beads and silver floral trim
This reminds me of dressing up as a fairy when I was little
A bold statement, tough but feminine
It also doubles as an eye patch for a crazy chick
I love how the antiqued strands of gold beads drape delicately down
Purple is one of my favourite hues
The metallic leather peacock works beautifully with the real feathers
So I hope if nothing else you enjoyed the photographs and maybe inspired you to get a little crafty. I got a lot of my supplies from MJ trimming. The longest part of making one of these is picking out the materials.
One relativly inexpensive way to decorate is to put together some paper garlands. Almost any paper will do, you could even use newspaper like i did for this dainty newsprint garland.
Here’s what you need.
- A good sharp pair of scissors
- A pencil
- Paper
- Tape, glue stick or some other fairly dry form of adhesive
- A bit of card stock for a template, if using
That’s it! You can stay super basic or get really creative and get super complicated. Its all about how ambitious you feel.
The simplest garland can be put together by linking loops of paper together to form a chain. I’m sure you all did this at one time or another as a kid. Think solid colors; like a frosty white, christmasy red and green. Or go monochrome; four or five different shades of red maybe. It would also be very pretty made out of a delicate silver or gold tissue paper. Consider the scale. Do you want a tiny delicate chain? Or big whimsical loops? Is it for a tree, to be draped across a mantel or down a stair case?
Here’s my mini newsprint garland step by step:
Cut newspaper strips about 1 1/4 inches long
Mine were a little wide, so I cut them in half lengthwise
Perfect!
Make a loops, use a teeny bit of glue and press. Now thread a new strip through the loop and repeat.
These are so delicate and pretty!
To make things a little more exciting you can make a template out of some stiff paper or card stock, fold your garland paper into an accordian, the width of your template will determine where the folds go. Trace around the template and cut out. Connect the strips of cut garland with tape or glue to make a long chain. I made mine with a star shape.
fold it accordian style, and make sure you leave a join on the folded edges.
join the open edges with glue and hang it up!
You can make rows of wintery houses for a charming village, dancing ladies, snowflakes… whatever your holiday heart desires.
My tree is white. It’s plastic. It has glitter. It is pre-lit. It is, in short, fantastic. I know what you’re probably thinking. “Ugh, I hate plastic trees! Only the real thing for me!” I do enjoy a real tree, but this tree is so much fun. It’s so cute, and its so easy to pull out of the closet, bend the branches into shape and decorate. Best of all I don’t end up with piles of pine needles everywhere, and I don’t have to worry about dragging it out to the curb at any point. It just folds up and goes in the closet. HOWever i forgot how annoying the glitter on it is. It is EVERYWHERE! yikes. Nearly as bad as pine needles, maybe even worse because pine needles don’t get all over your face and clothes.
Wanna see some more pictures?
Who is that hiding in the tree?
Its Joey!
Daytime tree
I have my 12 Days of Christmas ornaments, my pretty felt balls and my little white birds. Love it! This friday I will be adding in some fat little white felt birds and my red i-cord garland.
I also hung some lights behind my curtain in my bedroom. So pretty! The lightweight cotton diffuses the lights and makes a very pretty glow.
What’s your favourite movie of all time ever? Find out if Marie and myself have one. That’s right, it’s our pod topic this week.
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