Tag: Rowan Big Wool

A couple of scarves

Loopy Cowl

I think this is the last project I finished in 2011. I started knitting it on Christmas Day, having been asked by my mother-in-law to bring a pair of 5mm needles to dinner with me. Somewhat confused, all became clear when I opened my gifts to find two balls of Rowan Felted Tweed and two books of knitting patterns!

This is Loopy Cowl by Rachel Proudman. It’s made up of eight strands which aren’t i-cord, they’re simply knit flat and allowed to curl up on themselves. All the strands are seamed together, then the seams are covered by another strand. I think you’re supposed to wear it with the seams at the back, but I quite like it at the side like this. Even better with a blingy brooch pinned to it, I think.

You need two balls of Felted Tweed because you’re knitting with two strands held together, although you only use around 70g of yarn. Not quite enough to risk buying only one ball, but enough left over (hopefully) to make a pair of matching gloves, or perhaps a little hat.

Moss Stitch Scarf

This enormous beast is the biggest scarf I’ve ever made, and also one of the quickest. Knitted in Rowan Big Wool and Noro Blossom on 15mm needles, I finished it in two evenings and it’s more than two and a half metres long!

Should you happen to need a pattern for a giant moss stitch scarf, I’ve added it to the tutorials section. Perfect for the silly snowy weather we’ve got going on at the moment.

Lazy Day

Lazy day winding yarn

Working weekends is a peculiar beast. I only work in the afternoons, but that leads to rather polarised mornings – either rushing around like a mad thing, or staying in bed for as long as possible. And then I don’t take time off during the week, because I feel guilty spending time on myself when I have so much to do.

This weekend brought the end of Neverwhere, the play I’ve been working on at Progress Theatre. We saw the final performance on Saturday night, and then spent Sunday dismantling the entire set so that the next production can start to build theirs. Oh, and there might have been a little bit of a party in between…

By Monday I was well and truly ready for a bit of a break. I’ve been working on two large knitting projects for several months (both now completed), so I wanted to have a rummage through my yarn stash and make some plans. I couldn’t start knitting anything, mostly because Pony don’t make circular knitting needles with 3.5mm tips, and that’s the only brand of metal needles sold at my local yarn stores. So I contented myself with winding all of my single skeins of yarn into balls, and looking up some patterns to go with them.

The yarn that’s wrapped around my knees and on the ball winder in the photo is Skein Queen‘s Delectable, a gorgeous silk and merino heavy laceweight. It’s earmarked to become Jane Sowerby’s Glimpse Maxi Cowl, if I can ever get hold of some needles in the right size. Diane gave me a gorgeous mystery mini skein in a very similar colourway and a mittens pattern for Christmas so those will match beautifully.

I also wound up two skeins of Noro Blossom, that I’d bought with the intention of making a pair of chameleon-paw Tridactyl mittens. Then I saw them next to my stashed Rowan Big Wool, and they were perfect together. So now I’m about half way through knitting a moss/seed stitch scarf. It’s four feet long already, so it’s going to be a proper Doctor Who style monster, but it’s really pretty. All of the colours in the Noro look gorgeous against the pale pink of the Big Wool, and the bumpy texture of the yarn and the stitch pattern look great. It’s really nice to have an instantly-gratifying project, after having worked on two long-term ones.

I’m going out for a knitting date with friends this evening, so hopefully progress on the scarf will continue quickly. I’ll write up the pattern (if you can call it that!) once it’s finished.