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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Queen of the Cowls

I would much prefer to show you these on an actual person (my window ledge is doing a lot of modelling lately) but my kids are terrible volunteers and I really want to get these wrapped. Plus, it's not raining. So, rather than wait, I used my Christmas planter and here you go, three cowls for Mom's Christmas stocking:


The brown one and the blue one are knitted from a combination of Diamond Mulberry Merino and Colinette Iona and were part of my stocking last year. My Mom was so excited about them and I really should have been a better daughter and knitted them up for her right away. Actually, I think I've had the blue one done since February, but it was such a mild winter last year I just tucked it away and forgot about it.

The brown one had a rough go. Mom decided she wanted to knit it up herself and then left the yarn sitting on a chair in her room. Mom has dogs.  And one of her puppies got into her bag and had a good old play with the skeins. It took us the better part of an afternoon to sort it all out. That cowl had to be blocked in quite warm water because it had a lot of "joins" and loose ends that needed blending. But I think it looks beautiful nonetheless.

The green one you've seen already and I can only say I'm happy that it's done. I'm not sure if it was just because it was the last of my planned Christmas knitting. Or if I was just not in the right mood, but I found it incredibly frustrating. I found the yarn frustrating, I found the pattern incredibly frustrating (especially for one SO easy! - Drake Scarf) and I couldn't WAIT for it to be over. As a result I carried it around everywhere with me and received multiple compliments and even an offer to purchase. I confess I nearly handed it over on the spot! Now that it's done and blocked I just want to get it wrapped and tucked into her stocking. I may not be a fan but I KNOW my Mom is going to love it. And that's really what matters in the end :)


Note added later: No matter how much you don't love a project, DO NOT leave it sitting in a nicely folded pile on your hope chest waiting to be wrapped. Your two-year-old may decide that it needs to be further blocked/bathed and may toss it in the tub with his older brother. If your older son has severe eczema and takes bath in heavily oiled, warm bath water this may be a problem. Futher washing to get out oil and medication may result in "some" felting.  Sigh

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