Cuckoo for Cowls

Back when cowls were all the rage in the knitting blogosphere (2007? 2008?), I have to admit that I just didn't get it. I was more than a little skeptical of all of the short, stumpy tubes folks were knitting.

If you're on Ravelry, you know that there's always a discussion titled something like "Why knit dishcloths?" or "Why bother knitting socks?" Well, that's sort of how I felt about cowls.

Then, last week, I knit one. And, when I finished, I immediately cast on for another.

I totally get it now.

This little number is a Zigzag Cowl from the zigzagstitch. It knit up lightening fast in one skein of nearly-impossible-to-photograph vermilion Malabrigo Merino Worsted. I'm completely smitten with the traveling stitches and picot hems. (So much for gifting it, eh?)

The pattern keeps its promise: it was a super-fun, relaxing knit. It's a very straight forward pattern, but every row is just a little bit different. As the Yarn Harlot would say, it's just enough to keep a knitter interested.

Plus, it was the perfect antidote to my busy week. I've been struggling to finish up a couple of projects for a class that I'm taking, and knitting around-and-around-and-around has been a welcome reprieve.

Up next, I'm planning on starting a project that I've been eying for over a year. Here's a sneak peek:

Finished Objects

I finally have a couple of knitted finished objects to share here. First up is a Shiny Cowl by Dee Anna at Pair of Ducks Knitting. Since I'm trying to knit up the yarn I already have, my rendition is fuzzy rather than shiny.

It was a great one-skein project, using up almost an entire ball of Frog Tree Alpaca sport weight. (I estimate that I used 120 yards of the 130 yard ball.) In addition to using very little yarn, it was a near instant-gratification project. I cast on Thursday evening, and I started casting off at Knit Lawrence Saturday afternoon.

Fiber Star was kind enough to teach me Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bindoff, which turned out to be just perfect for this project (and is every bit as stretchy as you would expect). Not only does it give me plenty of room to pull the cowl over my head, but it matched the long-tail cast on I used nicely.

I also recently finished a pair of plain top-down socks. While they're not an exciting piece of knitting, the yarn is very special to me.

They are knit in some gray, Regia tweed that I purchased in Wurzburg, Germany in 2005, while I was on the study-abroad trip where I met my husband. I was a brand new knitter in those days, and I don't think I had even knit my first sock when purchased this yarn. I only recently decided that I could knit socks competently enough to use it up!

I still actually have one skein of precious sock yarn left from that trip, and I'm thinking that the chemist deserves a pair too. I just can't decide if a nice herringbone pattern or cables will suit the tweed better.