Cosy Cowl

‘Knit this up in a weekend…’ yeah, right! You can see how this is going to go…

Back in October, we went off to Cardiff for half term. I packed this project, knowing that I’d have my Mum on hand if I got stuck. I was really pleased with myself: the pattern was from an ancient Molly Makes magazine, and delving into my yarn stash, I spotted three balls of this lovely, soft cashmere / cotton yarn I’d originally bought to make up a baby cardigan for my son. Yes, he’s now nine! Let’s just say I’ve had it a while…

My Mum patiently started me off on my circular needles knitting up the picot edge  and then handed it over. Mmmm…. while the pattern itself wasn’t too complicated, it involved a lot of careful counting and concentration as each of the thirteen lines shifted slightly each time. And when I say careful counting and concentration, I actually mean silence! Yep, the perfect pattern for a busy mother of two, I get oh, so much silence in my life 😉

Anyway the process went like this: I’d knit roughly 5 or 6 lines before I went wrong, then I’d have to wait until I saw my Mum again, who patiently unpicked 3 or 4 of those lines, before I could start again. Lordy, it took all of my patience and was the most frustrating knitting project I’ve ever made! I made on average something like 4 or 5 rows’ progress a week. My Mum kept offering to finish it off for me, but I was determined to see it through. I think it’s what’s called ‘a stubborn streak’.

I copied the pattern out onto separate paper, a few rows at a time, in an attempt to simplify it, with tally charts and post-its carefully marking my place every time I paused. Gradually, it was understood that no one in the room could speak when it came out 😉 There was a lot of eye rolling from various members of my family. Eventually, four months later (take that, ‘weekend‘ project!), it was time to hand it back to my Mum to finish the picot trim, leaving me to finish up all the ends.

To say it was a relief to finish it would be an understatement! Probably even more so for my Mum. And there’s no way I’ll be attempting anything like this again, anytime soon. But it is lovely 🙂 I’m not sure I can take the credit for it at all, as without my Mum on hand, I would never have finished it. I probably ended up knitting about three quarters of it at most, but still, I tried. On the plus side, I know this will get loads of wear. It’s pretty, beautifully soft and a good,neutral colour. It’s also warm, but with the added bonus of looking actually quite fresh and Spring-like. Almost worth the blood and tears…

 

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A Year in the Making

And it’s only a scarf, I know!

I’m a slow knitter, it’s official! I do like knitting, but it’s definitely an Autumn/Winter past time for me. I was inspired to start this last Winter when I spotted a very similar version in Hobbs, but for a silly price. I followed a simple ribbed scarf pattern from Louisa Harding’s ‘hats gloves scarves’ and then added the pom poms.

You can see from these photos that my pom poms need a bit more of a trim, but I was pretty nervous of trimming them too much when I first finished. I was also worried that I wasn’t going to be able to wear this for a while, but my son was taking part in a cross country competition this morning and I’m glad I had it, as it was freezing standing around in the rain, cheering him on. He came 56th out of about 200 runners though, so not too shoddy at all and well worth enduring the cold for 🙂

I was inspired to get this finished after joining our knitting club at school, which has been great fun. A couple of the girls are already able to knit, having been taught by their mums or grans, but most of them are complete beginners, so it’s been great seeing them learn and progress. We have all ages attending, from our little year sevens up to a few sixth formers. It’s really lovely to pass on the skill and get to have a natter with them on a more informal basis. I also teach in a pretty high performing school, so it’s the perfect activity to allow them a little down time too.

And if you haven’t made a pom pom for a good few years like me, I highly recommend it! I’d forgotten how much fun it was, even the endless winding… And as for the gentle prising off and cutting: pure, childish joy! 🙂