I decided to take the Bank Holiday off – which means that although I didn’t do any blogging, I got loads of stuff done! The big news item is that I’ve finished Naloa! I haven’t posted any photos of it yet as it’s still blocking and I want to do a Big Reveal – more on that later.
I’ve done a lot of running, and finished knitting the “Bank Holiday Cowl”. You won’t have heard about this before, because I designed and knitted it this weekend.
Bank Holiday Cowl
I used up my skein of handspun by the name of “Pharaoh” for this project. There were 121 metres of this, and it came out as a bulky/super-bulky yarn as I was practising spinning roving – it was only the second yarn I’d ever spun.
![The Pharaoh yarn ready to become a cowl.](http://www.plutoniummuffins.com/wp-content/uploads/Yarn-450x600.png)
I wanted a simple lacy bit that would keep the knitting interesting, while also giving the cowl some structure, while showing off my crazy yarn to the best of its ability! I flicked through my book of lace patterns and landed on cockleshell lace. This required a garter stitch pattern, and as I wanted to knit the cowl in the round, I decided to scrap the garter stitch and just do it stockinette – shortly afterwards, I realised it was the same pattern as used in a section of Naloa!
I actually knitted it three times. The first time was at Wonderwool Wales using 5.5 mm needles – I had a grey and purple section in the yarn, which I included. It looked absolutely horrible. I unpicked it and started again.
The second time, I cast on the same number of stitches but used a 6 mm needle. The purple/orange/yellow section of the yarn was much bulkier than the grey and purple bit, so I knew I would have an issue with sizing, but I wasn’t sure how bad it would be. I did six repeats of the lace pattern, and got through the first section of the cowl before realising that it looked absolutely huge, and I wasn’t going to have enough yarn. Off the needles and into the frog pond again.
![Wearing the Bank Holiday Cowl as a cowl.](http://www.plutoniummuffins.com/wp-content/uploads/Wearing-450x600.png)
![And wearing it as a crown the day Princess Charlotte was born!](http://www.plutoniummuffins.com/wp-content/uploads/Crown-450x600.png)
I did fewer repeats of the pattern on the last go around, and was happy with what I got. I did a stockinette section with a couple of eyelets for each repeat section, and ribbing at the top. I only did two rounds of ribbing because I didn’t have enough yarn- ideally I would have done a couple more. So this is the third incarceration of the cowl. I really like it, not least because it’s my own handspun, but also because it’s my own design. It’s definitely an organic ‘Corrie’ creation.
![The Bank Holiday Cowl in vivid glory.](http://www.plutoniummuffins.com/wp-content/uploads/Bank-Holiday-Cowl-450x286.png)
What did you get up to this weekend?
Much love,
Corrie xx
This is a beautiful cowl and wonderful that it doubles up as a crown! I love the way you not only designed and knitted this but spun the yarn too. That really is handmade :)
Thank you for linking up with Wool on Sundays :)
It does make a great crown! :))
It’s great when you get to knit up some handspun. It took me ages to do that – I wanted to make sure what I do with my yarn would be worthwhile. Right now I am using some of my earliest handspun to make a lacy loop for my boyfriend’s mother. It will be a little late for her birthday, but I WILL finish it!