Not to be dismissive in any respect, I just seem to be making a lot of these lately. It's too warm for hats most of the year, so it's light cowls or scarves and fingerless mitts that keep me from freezing at my highly air conditioned desk. So, when a pretty test knit pattern comes along, I'm willing to give a go.
This one is a smaller, less drapey cowl than the others I've done recently, so I probably won't get much chance to wear it till it gets cold again, but I definitely liked the pattern, so it's all good.
The Yarn
Good ol' Lion Brand Wool-Ease. Inexpensive, tons of colors, durable, and not pure acrylic so definitely softer than a lot of Red Heart colors. Easy to find (even Wal-Mart carries it). Lighter colors tend to pill a bit, but I've used this yarn repeatedly and really like it for inexpensive projects. I used just over 3/4 of a skein of Wool-Ease for this project (about 140 yards).
The Pattern
The Staggered Diamonds Cowl by Kaitlyn Yeager (FantasyFlyte Designs)
The yarn is knit up at a denser gauge, so the Wool-Ease was a little scratchy as I was working with it. But, I've worked with it before and I know it'll soften up pretty soon with wear and washing.
The pattern is pretty easy to follow, but you do need to watch yourself; it's not a totally mindless knit. There are a few spots in mine where I messed up, just zoning out and not paying attention to the chart. I had to back up and fix the twists. One stitch cables are a bit fiddly to correct, but not impossible. Still, lesson learned: pay attention to your work :)
Also, the pattern is designed not to go completely around. That is, there is a break in the lattice at the start/end of the round. Trust the stitch count, it will even out, but yes, it does look like that at the end of hte round. You can kinda see it in the picture on the right below, how the diamonds don't match up about a third of the way across the picture? That was where my round started.
Notes, Alterations, Etc.
No changes, actually. Only thought in passing is that this would be a very easy pattern to increase for a bigger cowl. Make it thicker (deeper?) by continuing with more repeats or the chart, or make it a bigger loop by casting on more multiples of 8. Other than that, this one was pretty straight-forward :)
This one is a smaller, less drapey cowl than the others I've done recently, so I probably won't get much chance to wear it till it gets cold again, but I definitely liked the pattern, so it's all good.
The Yarn
Good ol' Lion Brand Wool-Ease. Inexpensive, tons of colors, durable, and not pure acrylic so definitely softer than a lot of Red Heart colors. Easy to find (even Wal-Mart carries it). Lighter colors tend to pill a bit, but I've used this yarn repeatedly and really like it for inexpensive projects. I used just over 3/4 of a skein of Wool-Ease for this project (about 140 yards).
The Pattern
The Staggered Diamonds Cowl by Kaitlyn Yeager (FantasyFlyte Designs)
The yarn is knit up at a denser gauge, so the Wool-Ease was a little scratchy as I was working with it. But, I've worked with it before and I know it'll soften up pretty soon with wear and washing.
The pattern is pretty easy to follow, but you do need to watch yourself; it's not a totally mindless knit. There are a few spots in mine where I messed up, just zoning out and not paying attention to the chart. I had to back up and fix the twists. One stitch cables are a bit fiddly to correct, but not impossible. Still, lesson learned: pay attention to your work :)
Also, the pattern is designed not to go completely around. That is, there is a break in the lattice at the start/end of the round. Trust the stitch count, it will even out, but yes, it does look like that at the end of hte round. You can kinda see it in the picture on the right below, how the diamonds don't match up about a third of the way across the picture? That was where my round started.
Notes, Alterations, Etc.
No changes, actually. Only thought in passing is that this would be a very easy pattern to increase for a bigger cowl. Make it thicker (deeper?) by continuing with more repeats or the chart, or make it a bigger loop by casting on more multiples of 8. Other than that, this one was pretty straight-forward :)
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