Vite Cowl

I saw this lovely cowl on Meredith's blog and thought it was lovely but I had neither the super chunky wool nor the size 13 needles. I downloaded the pattern and saw it could be made with size 10 needles, which I do have and thought I might buy some super chunky wool the next time I was in a wool shop.

Oddly, enough the opportunity presented itself quicker than I thought and I settled down to start my first knitting pattern from Ravelry. I'd joined the site years ago but thought it was a bit advanced and only for hardcore knitters and not dilettantes like me, obviously I was wrong and it is a fabulous resource.

It definitely knitted up fairly quickly, all told it took me about 6-7hrs but this included using youtube for multiple reminders of the stitches, two false starts because it 'just didn't look right' and a number of row removals and re-knits. I found the first part hard to envisage as it looked really odd but this was due to my inexperience and inability to see the pattern until it emerged. I did find a counter app on my phone essential especially as I was able to tap it instead of lifting a pencil and making a note or tick.

When finished it looked like a big wonky single cable and is quite narrow which means I'm going to be forced to learn how to block a piece of knitting. I will probably need to be careful as the wool is entirely acrylic. I didn't dawdle over my purchase as I was in a hurry. Actually it went along the lines of 'Do you have super chunky wool? Yes, that 's it there. Great I'll take the lilac'. It was only £2.65 a ball so excellent for a trial run and although very it is thick it still feels soft, unless of course I make it crispy with the iron when blocking! 

I don't have a proper finished picture of the cowl yet but in the meantime here is Magic checking the 'pudge-ability' of it.

I would definitely make another as it is fast to make up and I did get quicker as I got familiar with it. I wonder if it might be possible to use a slightly narrower yarn with the size 10 needles to give it more floppiness and I also wonder if it might be possible to do each row twice side by side to get a broader scarf/cowl which could be used as a makeshift hood if the need arises.

Yarn Lust in Glasgow

Maybe it was the first onset of autumn or just my love of soft tactile textures but when I had a little annual leave in August my yarn lust was awakened again. It started when I saw some Rico Pompon wool in a craft shop in Hillington. I decided it was too expensive at nearly £10 a ball. I looked online but with the dreaded P&P the price was just about the same and the more I thought about it I just had to have some. In the meantime as I was looking for advice online as to how I might knit with it, I browsed around and decided to visit a couple of wool shops locally.

After visiting a friend for lunch on the Southside I popped into Marjory's Wool Shop. I now know what it feels like to have shrunk and have landed inside a knitting bag. This tiny shop is stuffed full of the most glorious yarns in every conceivable colour and type and the lady was lovely and so generous with her advice. 'Aruba' and 'Nina' scarf yarns came home to stay and will feature in another post now they are all made up.
 
The following day the next shop I just had to visit was Yarn Cake in the West End, which I'd been meaning to visit for so long as it looked intriguing. This is an eclectic shop which sells yarn and cake. It has a much smaller selection but has the most amazingly soft hanks of alpaca or llama blended with mulberry silk, Drops yarn that I am now in love with and small run wools from local producers like New Lanark. When I visited I was greeted by the owner, Antje, who was chatting with some young women who were sitting knitting and enjoying cake and coffee. Everyone was so relaxed and friendly it was impossible not to get chatting and I had a great laugh. Antje, explained she was following the Great British Bake Off and making the challenge each week. However, as the latest one was Floating Islands and she didn't have a hob in store then she'd made chocolate roulade from an earlier series. The cake was divine, and I was delighted when she asked if it was ok that the coffee came in a cafetiere. I'm really fussy about my coffee and frequently disappointed so anywhere serving good coffee is music to my ears. A lovely time was had and some beautiful soft Drops Nepal wool/alpaca blend and New Lanark Chunky was eventually selected.

So, what of the pompon wool that started this woolly exploration off? Well, that weekend I was meeting up for afternoon tea with my ex-colleagues and friends and, as the designated driver, I managed to persuade my human sat nav's to agree to let me swing past the original craft shop to get some pompon wool. Now, from a purely financial point of view, if I'd just bought the ruddy pompon stuff in the first place it would have saved me a fortune. Instead I managed to awaken my old yarn lust which was definitely NOT the cheaper option. However, if I hadn't used some of my time off to explore a little of Glasgow's wool landscape then I'd never have visited the brilliant shops above and re-engaged with a craft I used to love. There are many more woolly tales to be told and I'll endeavour to get all caught up again.