I am very much a person that does everything fast and, consequently, I much prefer to crochet than to knit as things work up so much more quickly. A while ago friends were raving about knitting their own socks and so I joined the group and learnt to knit socks using the magic loop method. Using a 2.25mm circular needle and very thin sock yarn (African Expressions Soul) I started on my first sock which, to date has not yet been completed. Why? It takes forever to get anywhere! I will finish it (and the other one) at some point, but who knows when!
I then decided to try my hand at knitting a beanie from the cuff up using a circular needle (not the magic loop method) so that there would be no seam, but I changed it to a neck/ear warmer as I did not have a pattern to follow and, being a bit of a novice, I had no clue at what point I would start decreasing and how I would decrease to shape the beanie. So, I just used a K2 P2 rib on either edge with some knit rows in between. You can find my pattern under the My knit designs tab in my blog.
Having been successful at making the above cowl, I jumped at the opportunity to try another cowl using a circular needle, the free Concerto Cowl which was shared by a very good friend of mine on her website. Wendy Bloy is a local Indie dyer who dyes the most beautiful yarn which she sells in cakes. She has also asked me to design a cowl using her yarn which she will then sell as a kit. I am in the process of testing the design out. More news on this later!
For the Concerto Cowl, I used a DK /#3 weight yarn instead of the aran/#4 weight yarn the pattern calls for as that is what I mostly have in my stash. The 4 row repeat for the colour work is very easy. Being able to carry the yarn makes this an even more likeable pattern. When I had finished the cowl and tried it on, I was very disappointed with the way it sat on my neck and so will be ripping it out and trying again. Some friends suggested using a K2P2 rib instead and I thought I would try halving the length of the rib, or not even using a rib.
It is great to be doing some knitting again. I have made a few items in the past like this cardigan below. I really love the boxiness of this cardi and think I might just make another one. I fortunately managed to find the pattern again in the local magazine that it was published in, and which had been stashed in my kist!
I also made a waistcoat many years ago using a lace pattern. I am quite proud of it as I had to shape the waistcoat keeping to the pattern stitch and I was a real novice at doing such things!
Here's to some more knitting adventures!
Comments