Lingering by

Do you like my baby swatch?  I do realize that CORRECT swatches are supposed to be at least four by four inches, which is a nice sizable square for determining CORRECT gauge.  So you may laugh at my baby swatch, because it is perfectly allowable.

However, I did not make a swatch for gauge-determining, but rather for yarn-determining.  Have you ever knit merino lace and mohair lace together in fair isle?  I have not, but I wanted to know if it would work.  Happily, what I found out from my baby swatch is that size 2 needles give fair enough stitch definition to combine the different fibres in a fair isle pattern.

I'm stumped at what pattern to do, though.  I have four mohair colors I want to work into a white sweater, but I do not know how complicated a pattern to do!  Should I try a pattern that combines all five yarns at once, like in a tree or a star motif, or should I have a simple pattern such as on my baby swatch that stripes the colors?

Let me know what you think!  I feel extremely indecisive.

Do you remember the cowl that I had started last weekend?  Well, I finished it by the end of the weekend, actually.  I have been so used to knitting on needles at least size 6 or smaller that I forgot that some knitting CAN be done quickly.

The cowl, when it first came to my mind, called for something lush, something that would have an elegant drape.  Normally, I would say that size 10 1/2 needles do NOT equate to elegance, but that dainty needles do a far better job.  But although the cowl has the materials of a chunky, modern scarf, its design renders it completely different.  Modern is not really my style.

What is my style is the thought of a cowl not only being warm at the front of my neck, but at the BACK of my neck, too.  Why do cowls always have to fall to the front?  My back gets pretty cold, especially since many shirts are now made to dip down in the back.

In a way, I suppose you could say that the cowl is almost a shawlette.  When I hold it up in the last picture there, you can see the triangular shaping that I gave to the design.  I did knit the cowl in the round, but I used a combination of many short rows and some decreasing in order to create the shawlette-shape that you see.

I bet you can wear the cowl the other way, opposite to how I do, and have the triangular parts in the front of the neck instead.  I have not yet tried it, seeing that I love my warm back too much, but I should for fun.

The materials for the cowl include size 10 1/2 needles and baby alpaca sport yarn (Andean Treasure Yarn in Aurora).  Alpaca gives the cowl its beautiful drape, along with being wonderfully, wonderfully soft.

(I heard before that alpaca is the new cashmere, except better because it is more durable and cheaper.  I promote this thought.  Yay, alpaca!)

Some of the shaping can be seen in the pictures below.  All of the short rows are in the garter sections.  The decreases are in the lace sections.

I hope your week is going pleasantly.  I was actually able to go out on a walk during my lunch break today, which I silently rejoiced over.  The weather is dreary, but certainly not as cold as it had been these past couple weeks.

Until next time :)