The problem with knitting, for me anyway, is that it is a cold weather activity.  I never think of starting a knitting project until after it begins to get cold (not cool, cold).  And since, I start most knitting projects by spinning the wool, and I am not a particularly fast knitter, I never finish the project until after it begins to warm again in the spring.  Then, rather than getting to proudly wear my new creation, it has to (hopefully) be carefully packed away until next winter.  Such is the fate of this project. 🙁

I have a confession to make.  I can’t wear scarves.  I don’t know whether it comes from never having a need for them growing up in South Texas, or some fundamental fashion failing of mine.  My sister-in-law (actually both of them, come to think of it) wear them gracefully, and look fabulous.  I either look like I’ve tied a rope around my neck, or else it ends up hanging open and dragging on the ground every time I bend over.  I have a beautiful, marvelously geeky scarf knit for me by a very dear friend (who is also a much better knitter than I am).

Isn’t it wonderful? (I should perhaps note, since it may only be readily apparent to genetics geeks, that the pattern is a double helix.)  It breaks my heart every time I put it on that I can’t do it justice. In addition the the failure of fashion, it is also very warm (soft and cozy merino!) so there are only a few days a year when I can wear it comfortably anyway.

I have been looking for an alternative for some time.  One of my first knitting in the round projects was a smoke ring/cowl made from Noro.  I didn’t understand until I was finished what a mistake that choice of yarn was.  It was beautiful, but very scratchy.  Not at all the sort of thing you want in close contact with your neck.  This time I chose an alpaca/silk blend that I picked up at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival several years ago.  The price was quite dear, and I find that I frequently need to let expensive materials sit in my craft box for some time before I can work up the courage to make something from them.  My primary purpose for this fiber is to make hair nets, but since I spun it so fine, I have quite a bit of it to work with.

My last experience with with a smoke ring taught me that sizing is more critical than I thought at first, so I tested this pattern with another yarn I had in my stash.  I didn’t have enough to complete it, but I got enough to be useable.

This yarn by the way is kid-mohair.  It is part of the first fiber that I prepped with my wool combs.  (I have pictures of that somewhere.  I should dig them up.)  I was experimenting with spinning a fuzzy yarn.  I still haven’t mastered that, but this batch wasn’t bad.

As it turned out, I still wound up with a cowl that was too big.  The pattern for this can be found at Knitty.com  Mine ended up much larger. I have to admit, I was somewhat disappointed in the final product.  It’s pretty, but not the stunning that I think that the model in the instructions.  Also, the beading was a huge pain in the butt.  I won’t be doing a beaded project again for quite a while.

As you can tell from the photos, the weather is beautiful, and warming fast, so here they are, packed away.