Monday, March 14, 2011

Knitting Projects: "Grimace" Cowl

Thanks to my husband for the nickname of this cowl. He says the color reminds him of the McDonald's purple monster character. I guess I see his point...

Knitting and I do not always get along. I find it to be much slower and more repetitive (boring?) than crocheting, but to use new techniques (different stitch patterns, changing colors, etc.) is too intimidating to me. Crocheting just one stitch at a time makes much more sense to me! Also, making a knitting mistake or dropping a stitch stresses me out because I don't know how to fix it.

Anyway, I had gotten these circular needles for Christmas and wanted to give knitting another chance, since I find that there are so many more free knitting patterns than crochet, and overall I do like the end result of knitting projects better. So this cowl seemed easy enough, yet left some creative room with the embroidery.

The pattern is free on Lion Brand's website. I followed the directions closely for the main body of the cowl. The embroidery is what I changed. Knitting in the round, the stockinette stitch was all knitting, all the time. Monotonous, but a good no-brainer to boost my knitting confidence. I was a bit unhappy with the overall fit of the cowl (very loose around the top so that it was hard to use to keep warm), so I added a drawstring! This may not be the most fashionable option, but it works on those windy visits to the Lake Michigan beach in winter.

The main yarn: Bernat Super Value in Lavender (same as I used for the Hook Case)
The white running stitches: Loops & Threads Charisma (same as I used for the Cream Pillow)
The gray flowers (similar embroidery tutorial here): I can't remember! Some leftovers from a scarf, wool I think.

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