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Thursday 21 March 2013

My First Proper Pattern

Yes! I have finally done it and released my first ever pattern all fresh from being test knitted and ready for downloading from Ravelry or you can also get it from the Patterns tab above

I've been playing around with ideas for easy to knit items aimed both at beginners who would like to try little bits of lace or cables and those who have more experience but want something quick and satisfying so I give to you the Ambient Cave Cowl.

The pattern is both charted and written out in full and uses a super chunky yarn - the grey one is Hayfield Chunky with wool held double and the blue one is Wendy Serenity Super Chunky which is knitted on 9mm (US13) needles. It takes less than 3 hours to knit so could be done in a evening while the wind blows and the snow falls.

This cowl was inspired by my love of caves, well more archaeological caves but you catch my drift. Caves in the UK have an ambient temperature of 11 degrees Celsius or 52 Fahrenheit. This means that within the body of the entrance cave and from about a metre of the mouth, the temperature is fairly constant no matter what's happening outside. If it has water running through the cave mouth it drops a few degrees but most archaeological caves do not have a waterway.

So 11 and 52, 52 and 11. This cowl was designed to utilise those numbers. The pattern is an 11 stitch repeat and is cast on over 52 stitches. The main design is also 11 stitches high. Also the reverse stocking stitch at the top and bottom of the cowl is 6 rows and 3 rows which is 5 + 1 and 1 + 2 (although I didn't realise this until I had finished the pattern).

But best of all, I think that the pattern looks like hills with little caves peaking out.


Monday 11 March 2013

First Pattern Jitters



Grrrhhh!
How is it possible to have so many jitters about a relatively simple pattern?

Self test knit 1:
Nannh! Possibly a bit too tall but just about. Maybe more a bloke’s cowl.

Self test knit 2:
Kind of but not quite and is might be too soft and collapse and not really be that functionally at keeping out the cold

Self test knit 3:
The best so far: but no quite. What does it need?
I know more rows. That’s what’s amiss

Self test knit 4 (or rather an addition to test knit 3)
Better. Got good height and width and fits and . . . is it everything I want this cowl to be
Yeah, I think it’s a pretty close 

Now to make sure I get the pattern written in a way that's understandable to the people not inside my head