I found this lovely cowl pattern in our favourite knitting magazine 'Knit Now'. It's designed by Cilla Webb and the original is knitted in doubleknit (Louisa Harding & Debbie Bliss yarns). I loved the way the self striping yarn interacts with the plain yarn and had a look around the shop to see what I could use. We had a single ball of Drops Big Delight which creates a nice wide stripe so the hunt was then on for a contrast. Ruth and I have been trying to find a way to showcase Wendy Cairn -- it's a lovely aran yarn but it doesn't display well -- it seems to suck light into it and not reflect it back so it looks quite dull. Looking at it closely though it is made up of a dark yarn with different coloured fibres through it and the colour I chose (3288 Cyclone) mixes really well with the Big Delight and isn't dull at all. The joy of a cowl is that it doesn't really matter if you swap yarn weights as tension and size isn't an issue so instead of the DK yarns specified I'm using these two arans. I probably should have used a 5mm instead of the 4.5mm needle that I chose but the fabric is still lovely and soft and cosy. We'll have some more Big Delight delivered sometime in the next two weeks and there are four colours of Cairn to choose from so this may well become a kit!
Now to mention the fly in the ointment -- since taking this photo and bragging on instagram about how it is an easy pattern that can be knitted while talking, I have knitted another 20 or so rows and then notice the rogue garter stitch row at the top (the orange row that looks as though it is folded). Do I take down 32 rows or hope no-one else will notice. Pride goes before a fall!
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