Tuesday, January 8, 2013

A mystery knit on my needles

A few weeks ago - maybe more than a month's worth, I can't even remember now - I started an experiment with a cowl:


The general idea was to make a luxuriously soft neck warmer with one skein and a stitch that breaks up variegated yarn, because this silk/wool blend whose name escapes me is suuuuper variegated.

(I suspect the theme here is 'knit in the dark and see what you get', because I never added this project to my Ravelry page either.)

When I started, I was thinking Me.  Surprise!

Then I thought maybe it was for Heather, who likes earth tones, until Trish pointed out to me that these colours don't exactly suggest earth.  A few minutes later it occurred to me that the colours are perfect for Hannah's coat, so I made an effort to sprint through the rest and wrap it up for her for Christmas.  Didn't happen.

And now I've realized I don't even know what I'm making, let alone for whom.  Check this out:


See that really pronounced fold at the bottom?  It's there because I did a purl border before starting the pattern stitches.  A garter border would probably have stayed flat, a ribbed border, definitely.  Purls on the other hand - they curl.

I'm thinking there has got to be a way to make that a design feature.  It could make a nice little brim for a hat, for one thing.  Or the front part of a deep, warm headband - it's the right size to go around my head, and I've been wanting such a thing for the snow shoveling days when I put my hair in a ponytail so I can see.

If I leave it as a cowl, do I make the folded end the part that hugs the wearer's chin, or the part that sits on the shoulders?

If the latter, should I stop doing the pattern stitch now and move gradually into ribbing, the better to hug the chin at the other end?

Should I give up deciding, go on a bit longer, and then knit a round of eyelets to either draw it entirely shut as a hat or leave it a little looser for slipping a pony tail through?

So many questions.  The only thing I do know is that I should really stop knitting until I can answer one.  Except the knitting is sort of addictive now. 

Hope any problems you have today are just as nice to have and a lot easier to solve - and I'll see you tomorrow when I will be talking about socks.  Can you stand it?

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