Showing posts with label cowls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cowls. Show all posts

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Ferris Wheel Cowl/Crown






A new stitch design derived from two forbears (that leads me to another), gets its debut in this small garment.

The Ferris Wheel Cowl is the first in a series for this stitch pattern.
Lightweight neck decor, a great season spanner,
for the cool nights that follow hot days at the State Fair, a layer that you can carry in your bag to ward off chills.
It makes a cute crown/open top hat, too.

I'm very grateful to the Free Pattern Testers group and Ravelry for being there, creating a place where people from around the world assist each other in this beautiful way.

Size: 7h"x 21"c

After testing, 50% of this pattern's sales will be sent to UNHCFR and Doctors Without Borders for Pakistani flood victims.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Making Gifts

Doing my taxes plunged me into despair from remembrances of losses suffered last year
and reminders of new disappointments. I earned $403 and paid $145 in fees and spent $1020
on materials. Awful as it was, it was an excellent exercise. I sold more patterns than I did any other creations... so that should be my emphasis.

For holiday gifts I'm giving cowls... mine are more about when a hoodie meets a collar.

I started one using FPDCs on a Lang Joke --- a boucle mix of wool,mohair, acrylic, nylon and elastic-- and a L hook.

I started another using in double strands of brown Shetland Chunky by Patons using a M hook. ( I won this yarn and have fretted for nearly a year on how to use it. This dark almost chocolate brown will make a handsome gift for my DBIL.)

They recommended a J but the single strand seems very much a regular worsted to me, not a bulky and working with the M hook
makes everything a bit looser than I prefer--- but it suits the emerging garment.

This one begins with hdc for 4 rows and then expands with the dc and at one point I add a stitch and then I add a stitch again. I could see how a more pronounced funnel shape would also work.

I'm thinking of buying fingering and worsted to make some others and want another fabric. I did a swatch of sc-dc and like the nubbly texture having used and oversized J with a worsted weight acrylic. Now I don't know how this will translate with a multi
strand on a M/N/P but I'm excited to try. The multistranding is not for bulk or even speed, but for color, loft and a structure I envision...an architectural statement of
warmth. I'm guessing these will all be about 220 yds....