10 hours of my life

that seemed to go on forever. Really, I’m sorry blog, and people I owe emails too, bloglines I’m sorry too. I’ve neglected you all and managed to miss July somehow cause we are half-way through August and I have no idea where all the time went. This summer has passed by so quickly because I wasn’t home, the kids and I visited my parents and then Mike at work. Busy this summer has been, very busy. Last week sometime we spent a humongous chunk of time at an RV dealership outside of Richmond VA. During the 10 hours of my life that I’ll never get back I was and am incredibly thankful for
1. The DVD player in the van and
2. Being a knitter. Really, if I wasn’t a knitter I would be one bitch of a person. I was able to mostly entertain myself by knitting around and around on this cowl. While the kids played and I tried not to be twitchy. (Really, how much fun is it to keep small children entertained in a dealership?)
3. Not having the 5th wheel camper any more, we now have a drivable class C. (I’m totally looking forward to family “camping” trips now! No more bathroom stops!! Mike has to drive, no more taking 2 vehicles!! More knitting time! Yay!)

Before we left for Richmond I was thinking of what to do with all the leftover koigu I have. A thought popped into my head, why not a cowl? And being unable to find a cowl pattern for fingering weight yarn that wasn’t held double (I didn’t want to blend the colors more) I sorta made up my own. I CO 160 sts knit 5 rows of seed sts then knit straight stockinette until I was almost out of the color I was knitting with and then knit 2 rows of the next color until I almost ran out of that color and repeated until I was almost out of yarn. Then knit 16 rows of garter sts and BO after a purl row. My finished cowl measures 12.5″ wide and 11″ long. If I could find my notes I could tell you exactly how many grams of each color I used…

I’m not to thrilled on the fit, its *very* drapey, but I think with a jacket on it will be ok. Whichever end is closest to my shoulders folds under when its on, and I think its because the fabric isn’t wide enough to go stretch across them. (Like that makes oodles of sense, but you get what I mean.) Now I want to knit lots of cowls, lots and lots of them. But alas, I must knit sweaters for the kids (darn them). Even though I badly want to cast this on, instead yesterday for Corra’s blue febuary lady sweater and I need to order yarn for Bryce’s drive-thru. Its time that the kids wear handknit sweaters for their school photo’s don’t you think? *mahhahhaha*

6 responses

Love the cowl. The colors are great.

The trick I use to make them fit better is to go up needle sizes at one end so it flares more. That way it fits better over your shoulders. Guess you could also increase instead but I ususaly take the lazy way.

Yeah – knitters can entertain themselves and make something useful at the same time 🙂

Your cowl is beautiful. What a good way to use leftovers.

Sticks & string can be helpful in so many situations! 🙂 What a fun cowl. Have you thought of warm blocking it a bit to get it to tighten up a bit? Once I get through with my Olympic shawl I have several cowls I want to get started on…

I like the fit. I think it somehow works with the colors (pretty color palate), and the length you ended with. I just finished my first cowl, and it made me want to do more, too!