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.

Ruffy Neckwarmer

This was knitted up for a swap that I am in and I hope that my partner likes it, or at least has a friend who might like it.

I have had the yarn - Gedifra Capriola - for ages and could never find a decent project for it. It's one of those super bulky, sort of flat felted look yarns and this ws multi coloured too. But I saw the Little Ruff in One Skein Wonders and realise that it would do for a ruff or neckwarmer.

Well this is the finished results and I like this alot

I changed parts of the pattern. The original calls for an aran weight but I used bulky and increased the needle size to 10mm. I then only cast on 14 stitches and on the short rows did a differing pattern. On one side it's a 2 and 4 short row repeat and on the other it's a 2, 3 and 4 repeat. I think this has made the neckwarmer sit better without being too floppy - but I would say that ;o)

Anyway it is done and I shall hopefully post it off tomorrow if I can slip and slide my way to the post office.