Real Winter and International Yarn

I've been back for a month and am finally starting to settle back in.

Germany was a perfect winter wonderland. The photo above was taken in full color! Celebrating a real white Christmas was truly special.

I managed to finish all 8 gift projects I had going the night before Christmas and they were splendidly received. Everyone was thrilled and impressed! My aunt, and trip benefactor, even nabbed her husband's scarf within the week and pulled the "communal property card" when I raised my eyebrow at her.

Understandably, I've been pretty burnt out on knitting since then, but I did start creating a pattern with some gorgeous hand-painted yarn that I picked up at a wonderful shop in Berlin. Fadeninsel was located just around the corner from the apartment Boy and I stayed in for 5 days. It is a wonderful little shop which emphasizes handcrafted yarns and local products like Opal yarn which I brought back for Riastiltskein.

Now that I'm home, I've gotten back into several new hobbies. I'll share tales and photos as soon as the projects are underway or complete.

Pattern: Wildhood Cowl

It is pattern time!

Earlier this winter, I did a lot of shawls. Like, a LOT of shawls. I had shawls coming out my ears. I think I knit five slightly different versions of the Swallowtail shawl.

When that was all said and done, I decided I wanted to knit something radically different. So, naturally, I decided on something for relatively the same part of the body, knit with similar yarn on similar needles.

Having looked through the cowl patterns on Ravelry and on Knitty, and not being able to find one I liked, I decided to make up my own pattern. I wanted something slightly lacy, but with enough body that it would keep my ears warm. This is what I came up with!

Unnamed Cowl (seriously, does anyone want to name this for me?)

ETA: WILDHOOD COWL! (Thanks, Naomi. It is perfect!)

Yarn: less than one skein Malabrigo lace. You could, I suppose, knit this longer and use an entire skein.

Needles/notions: I used 24" circulars in size 6 (4.0 mm.); it was a bit of a stretch at times. You could use shorter needles or DPNs easily. You will want a yarn needle or crochet hook to weave in the ends.

k2tog: knit two stitches together
kfb: knit through the front and back of a stitch.

CO 120 stitches loosely. Join, being careful not to twist.

Rows 1: Place marker at the beginning of the row, then k all
Rows 2-3: k all
Row 4: [yo, k2tog] to end of row
Rows 5-9: k all
Row 10: [k2tog, yo] to end of row
Rows 11-15: k all

Repeat rows 4-15 until the cowl is as long as you would like it to be; mine is around 15 inches. Stop at the end of row 13.

Edging:

Row 1: [k2, kfb] to end of row. You should now have 150 sts.
Rows 2-3: k all
Row 5: [yo, k2tog] to end of row.
Rows 6-10: k all.

To bind off: I used the elastic cast-off found at the end of the Swallowtail shawl pattern; make sure to cast off loosely.

This is long enough to be worn as a hood or as an abbreviated scarf-thing. It's much warmer than it looks! Enjoy, and please let me know if you find any problems with the pattern or have any questions!

(I have mostly been blogging over here of late; I promise I'll do more knitting/spinning posts soon!!)

Well... Crap

I was part way through knitting a hooded blanket for my baby cousin and then I got photos from my grandmother... That little tyke ain't too little anymore! By the time Christmas rolls around she'll be trundling along on her own and that blanket will be far too small for anything she might need it for. I think I need to make a sweater... change of plans then... damn...

Bookmaking Workshop... and other things!

In my other life, I teach middle school.

All of the students at my school are reading various Shakespeare plays in Language Arts right now-- the sixth grade is reading Twelfth Night, the seventh grade Romeo and Juliet, and the eighth grade Taming of the Shrew. To cap this off, we're having essentially a very tiny renfaire in about a week, which is going to be awesomely insane-- I have to finish repairing my costume, help kids make books, finish planning the event, and hope like heck that the singer gets back to us.

In craft-related news:

• I held a bookmaking workshop with the sixth graders! Two of them, actually: the first one was on hardbound books sewn on tapes. I should have remembered how insane that is, having done it with the seventh grade last year, but alas. None of the kids finished their books in the workshop, and I have no had time to show them how to finish the case. The second went much better-- we made perfect bound books, and everyone finished! The books were cute! The kids were happy!
• Knitting, knitting, knitting-- I sat down this weekend with a ball of yarn and ended up with a hat. I'm going to re-knit it in a size that will actually fit humans, and we'll see if we can't get some photos up.
• Cooking: oh man, have I been cooking. I know that it isn't strictly a craft, but I have been having so much fun in the kitchen. Look out for a recipe post at some point soon.

That, I believe, is all!