Cowl

Hope you are well ,no doubt you are feeling the chill in the air.  Oh my giddy aunt , its almost that time again.  I will not say the word as lots of us are feeling under tremendous pressure every time the word is uttered . Are you ready? , certainly my daughter is ready , my brother has bought all his gifts.
I am not ready.

I'm sure you have noticed my beautiful poopy brooch . Made out of glass from a lady I found on instagram @flamingbeads. Beautiful workmanship ,she is  a true artisan. The detail is so amazing .Incidentally, she makes gorgeous stitch markers that I have ordered I will share as soon as I get them.

Every year I try a give everyone a handmade goody .This yarn is a thick super chunky yarn. All you need is a large 10mm hook and away You go. It is deeply gratifying working with thick yarn, a cowl can be made in a matter of a few hours.

The burgundy yarn is from  Araucania  .I can't for the life of me remember  the name as I threw the label away without writing it down , it is a discontinued yarn that I bought  some years ago . Araucania hails from Chile, these beautiful natural yarns are kettle-dyed to produce amazing tonal variations, with no two hanks quite the same.

This is one of my daughter's favourite colours but one I have never liked as it was the colour of my school uniform . I loved school just hated the fact I wore burgundy from the age of four until I was sixteen . However , this isn't for me so feelings set aside the yarn was finally  been used .  I  must say I quite like the colour and it will suit her perfectly.

I am a crocheter but I am also a sucker for knitted stitch. I adore it but it does take so long .The solution is provided by the fabulous  camel stitch, hump stitch.

In my stash I have a few balls of Rowan yarns , Big wool. One cowl  is red and black, a ball of each was used as I want to be able to fold it and wear red on the outside one day and black on the other as the moods take me. It is so squishy and so warm. Ohhhh, you really cant beat the properties of wool.

 I also had a skein of  BC garn Manu, a super soft baby alpaca ,again using my crochet amour 10mm hook. I am going to add another shade of blue from the stash to create the same two coloured  thicker cowl . I have edged the burgundy one with a lovely edging called Crab stitch

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I am enjoying making these cowls, the stitch is quite addictive ,I had to order some more yarn .Good old drops andes to the rescue.  It is on sale at the moment. It is  such a lovely wool and alpaca mix at a fraction of the cost of the Big wool.  So far I have made three, a few more and  I can tick off things of the 'C' word list. I will add little brooches or buttons to make each a bit more personalised. 

I used this  wonderful pattern from Pink Milk a great blog. Do try this pattern I swear you wont be able to stop 

Free Crochet cowl pattern

My giddy aunt, it is November already. I am sure like me you are wondering what happened to October. When I was a little girl I would often hear my mother and her best friends sit and say
 'Doesn't time fly'  they would then go on and on about how quickly I have grown, how could it be Christmas already?  etc. I remember thinking that in my opinion, time didn't fly it took forever ,as all I longed for was our summer holiday and my annual trip to Devon .Didn't it seem to take forever for the summer holidays to come? Did it not feel that the school year sept to june took a life time? I remember desperately wanted to turn fifteen so I could have saturday job , I swear I was fourteen and a half forever. Forever was a word I used a lot and it meant forever.

Oh my, hasn't it changed. My eldest is in her final year at university, my beautiful grandson is a one year old . It seems that the days are so short I cant find enough hours in the day to do what I need to do. I often say I'll sleep when I am dead. I think I must concede my mum was right ,in  fact she was right about most things, time does fly.

At the start of the year I vowed Christmas wouldn't catch me again. I complied a list of what I needed to achieve. I vowed that all my handmade gifts would be finished by November. I bet you have guessed that the list was  a pointless exercise . If like me you are stuck I offer you this pattern in a bid to give at least a couple of people something more than a washcloth and a bar of l'occuitane soap, hehe.

I wrote this pattern way back in 2010 .A very simple and gratifying project using a conservative amount of your yarn . In no time at all you’ll have a stylish  and useful accessory that will quickly become one of your most treasured possessions.
It is made in gorgeous aran weight wool from Rowan yarns.I have used this pattern for years .It's my go to pattern for quick and easy gift I thought I'd share it with you in the hope it will become your go to quick gift pattern. Very handy for those last minute Christmas gifts .

 186 yards (170 meters)
5mm hook
Pattern uses 3 balls
Colour; cream

A very simple and gratifying project using a conservative amount of your yarn . In no time at all you’ll have a stylish accessory that will quickly become one of your most treasured possessions.I made his cowl in gorgeous aran weight wool .I have used this pattern for years .It's my go to pattern for quick and easy gift I thought I'd share it with you in the hope it will become your go to quick gift pattern. It is always received with pleasure

.It is so warm and cosy you substitute any weight yarn the pattern looks lovely whatever yarn you use .I have made this with kid silk haze and some swarkowski crystal threaded on to yarn and it is so beautiful. It looks really good in those super chunky yarn, using those yarns makes it an even quicker make

It is just a one row repeat .Chain whatever length you like, I believe we all like different sized cowls so I never specify an amount. Just  make some chains  and check the length around your neck, perhaps you'd like it to go round  two or three times around your neck.
 You are working in the round. If you prefer you can make this a scarf and then join afterwards, if you twist this 180* and then join you will have a made a Mobius cowl.

Row 1; In 2nd ch from the hook  make 2trtog, 2ch ,2trtog ,all in the same stitch , skip 2ch , 2trtog, 2ch, 2trtog in the next, skip 2ch, repeat  to end , join with a slip st.

 Row  2; 3ch and now work 2trtog, 2ch ,2trtog  in the 2ch space of previous 2trtog, 2ch ,2trtog ,make sure you don't do the stitch in the skip 2ch but the 2ch between the 2trtog .

 Work  row 2  for 15 or so rows.

For the crochet Rose pattern head over to Nezumiworld


  This pattern is for personal use only. It may not be copied, reproduced, distributed or altered in way without express permission. Please do not reproduce this pattern to sell and/or sell any garment that you make using this pattern.

Happy crocheting!!