Cowl 471

I had a single hank of Misti Alpaca Chunky in a really pretty Black and Grey twist color (color 471) that I was itching to use. It's a really busy yarn - and I was wanted it to be a cowl in the worst way - co I came up with a simple pattern and it was PERFECT!

I love the length & width. Unstretched it's about 6.5 inches wide and 18 inches (or 36 total - do you measure a cowl in half or in whole?) long. It's just perfect! And the alpaca is just so wonderfully snuggle yum.

As you can see - Emma was pretty excited about the whole thing too. She jumped up and "Gave me 5" while I was waiting for the timer to go off on the camera.

I was even able to wrap it double around my neck for really cold days. (It's a bit snug going over the head but fits nicely on the neck once it's there.)

Here is a picture of it blocking in my basement craft area over night. Just a quick pin and a gentle mist and it was lovely the next day.

Here are the directions for the cowl if anyone is inclined toward making one themselves. You can check out additional notes on my project page on Ravelry

Cowl 471

Needle: 16” Size 13
Cast on 85 stitches using Long Tail cast on (Any cast on is fine).
Join in the round being careful not to twist and place marker.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: Purl
Row 3: Knit
Row 4: Purl
Row 5-9: Knit
Row 10: Purl
Row 11: Knit
Row 12: Purl
Row 13 - 17: Knit
Row 18: Purl
Row 19: Knit
Row 20: Purl
Row 21-25: Knit
Row 26: Purl
Row 27: Knit
Row 28: Purl

Bind Off knit wise.
Weave in ends.

Jack Skellington Coffee Cozy

My co-worker S is turning the big 30 tomorrow and I thought it would be fun to knit her a Jack Skellington Coffee (or Bottle of Mountain Dew?) Cozy.

Since I had to make the pattern up from scratch I thought I would put all the details I could in here so if someone else out there in internet land wants to make this, they would have a jumping off point.

The Yarn: I knit this out of scrap acrylic. I had in a big bag with no labels on anything. I know the black yarn was Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Black 153 because this was the yarn I was originally going to knit Emma's I-Matey Dog Sweater out of. The black yarn was slightly thicker than the white yarn - which made the black yarn a bit raised up in the end product - and I liked that. (Happy Accident!) The White yarn I think is Lion Brand Wool Ease in White Sparkle. Not sure about that - but that is my best guess. The finished cozy weights in around 19 grams - so I am guessing about 38 yards of white and around 6 yards of black.

Needles: Knit on size US 7 Knit Picks Needles. This was knit flat and seamed up the back.

I started off by going to google and doing an image search for Jack Skellington Smile Faces. This took a bit of time to find just the right image. It had to be really simple and translate well to a knit pattern. I finally found one and saved it to my computer. Then I went to http://www.microrevolt.org/ and uploaded the image into the KnitPro pattern generator. I chose the smallest size possible and Knit Portrait. I saved the pattern it spit out into my computer and then started knitting.

I cast on 48 stitches using the Cable cast on method (see great video here on U Tube for directions on this - I was doing it wrong for years!) in the white yarn.

Row 1-4: Knit across

Row 5 and all odd rows up to row 31: k4, p40, k4

Row 6 and all Even Rows: Knit

Row 32-35: Knit

Bind Off.

We then had to make a run to Starbucks for a Venti Skinny Cinnamon Dolce in the Venti size so I would have a cup to wrap this baby around. Such a burden. ;) After finishing the coffee and giving the cup a good rinse out and wipe down inside and out - I wrapped my Jack smile around the cup to gage how it would fit and how to seam it up. I went a little loose on the seam on top where the cup is widest and then went in a bit on the seaming toward the bottom where the cup is skinny. Fit just fine!

The pattern began on row 7 and went through row 27.

The first and last four rows are knit - and the first and last four stitches of each row are knit

Odd rows are purled and even rows are knit.

I tried to carry the floats over the back only a couple stitches at a time and then twist them with the working yarn. Long floats are annoying to me and I was also concerned they would show through in the end. I don't have a lot of color-work experience - but am quite pleased with the end product here.