Two Fall Projects Finished!

good morning to a new week

and an update on two finished Fall projects!

here is the story of two cowls, made of yarn I found on our travels along the East Coast of Canada

to tell you more about the left one in red tones, let me take you to Victoria, on Prince Edward Island

a cute little town at sea, quite touristic with a few lovely shops

one of them being Ewe & Dye Weaving, owned by darling Christine

she happened to have just finished spinning this cheerful yarn, and I couldn't resist

wool from her own sheep; washed, dyed and spun by hand - isn't that the perfect thing?

Christine is into weaving, among other things she makes the most beautiful tea towels and poncho's

she also told me about how rug weaving is an old technique, practiced on the East Coast for a long time

if you're interested, check out Deanne Fitzpatrick's website with online courses and free videos

and Doris Eaton's book about artful rug hooking

well, from rugs back to the knitting a cowl - I loved making this comfy red-pink one

it took me 3 restarts before I go the right amount of stitches and size of needles 

because I wanted this one skein to become one cowl with the right measurements

I ended up using needle size 7 mm, cast on 16 stitches and knitted the Dutch 'patentsteek'

in Dutch, there is a YouTube tutorial here that worked well for me

also, as I was browsing online... 

I found you can do this stitch with two colors and this Dutch YouTube tutorial seems great and clear to me

in English, I think it is called the brioche stitch - even though it is done differently, the result looks the same

this silent tutorial is very clear to me

the depth of the 'patentsteek' doesn't show too well in the pictures, that's why I added the picture top right

to show how it looks when you open up the stitches

if you'd like the depth of the stitch to show more, you can choose to knit this cowl in the round

the stitches will be stretched width-wise when you wear it, and show off the structure

as I am typing, I am thinking that will look great with a two colored version as mentioned above...

well, the purple cowl according to this pattern is crocheted with a soft yarn I found in The Loop in Halifax

the yarn is a mix of mostly cashmere, merino and silk - I can't think of a more luxurious combination

now with this project, I didn't enjoy the making at.all. I decided I am not made to work with light weight yarn

I absolutely love wearing it though, now that it is finished! 

~

needless to say, I am very happy with me two new cowls

and hope I did not pick up on the cowl fever to make several more...

wishing you a lovely week