Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Sherman's Howlin' Cowl

I've unintentionally knit another cowl. This actually started off as a simple ribbed hat, but I ran out of yarn. I decided to bind off anyway and make it a cowl. It actually tuned out pretty good. It fits me and because of the ribbing fits a variety of neck sizes - as demonstrated by my model. The funny thing is he didn't seem to mind wearing it around at all and I had to chase him down to get it back.

This is knit out of some of my favorite handspun to date. I like it so much primarily because of the color combinations and the way the roving was dyed - it looked like it could easily turn into a striping yarn and that is what I wanted. I spilt the roving along the length trying to make each strip as even as possible. I then divided the strips into two even piles be weight and began spinning. I started spinning each strip from the same end to keep the colors in order.

This seemed to work well and until I was about half way through the plying, I was getting really excited about the results. That is about the time that the colors started to get off track. I was really curious on how this would all knit up and you can see what I'm talking about in the finished piece. You can see along the bottom half of the cowl the nice solid colored stripes.The top half still stripes, the colors just aren't solid. I actually like both halves and don't mind the mix in this cowl, bu tit would be nice to able to control the results a little more.

I'm guessing the colors got off track for a couple of reasons. The first being that my spinning is not perfectly even so even if I had exactly even amounts in both threads there would be some difference and the second - I'm guessing that there were different amounts of the individual colors in each ply. I figure I have a few options for this in the future. I could learn chain plying and really guarantee the colors stay together or I could become a more consistent spinner and try a few new ideas on splitting the fiber more evenly or I could just not worry about it and enjoy things as they turn out.

Project Info
Pattern: Sherman's Howlin' Cowl by sgeddes; modeled by Sherman
No pattern. Just a simple tube of 2x2 ribbing knit in the round over 80 stitche
Yarn: Geddesburg Handspun Yarn
Blue faced Leicester; 4 oz/118 yards
Needles: addi TURBO US# 11 (8mm)
Notes: The name came to me while looking at that first picture of Sherman modeling the cowl. He just tipped his head right back as if he was ready to howl at the moon.

11 comments:

bockstark.knits said...

HA! That is great, I especially love how well he models it!!!

Monika said...

It's a lovely cowl. Can Sherman howl? My dogs do it all the time, sometimes it's embarrassing, when somebody walks by with a dog, and they are inside, they start to howl, or when my son's phone rings, they like (or dislike) his ring tone. Sometimes Biko howls during the night, in her sleep.

Sherman is a beautiful dog. He's so big, how much does he weigh, do you know?

gilraen said...

Fabulous!!! Will he let you have it back!!! If he has any sense/taste he won't!! :D

Zonda said...

Haha! I bet you'll have a fight when you want to wear it! Love it! Still laughing over Sherman! Gorgeous colors!

Bezzie said...

Good lord that's hilarious!!! And yet beautiful too!!!

Anonymous said...

Sherman knows a good thing when he sees it!!!

Annalea said...

That is so funny! I can believe him not wanting to give it back. I wore handknit wool for the first time on Sunday, and even though the weather was a little warm for the shawl, I didn't want to take it off. (I didn't, btw.)

Hey, have you heard of BoomerangTags.com?. I use their "Collar Tags" for our cats, and absolutely love them. They're a little pricey, but I have been so pleased with them that I feel they're totally worth it. Their tag/collar combo for cats is the first one my cats haven't managed to remove (or haven't wanted to).

And I love those colors with Sherman's coat. Lovely! :o)

IrishGirlieKnits said...

Sherman is a fabulous model!! Love the cowl!!

Jennie said...

I love your result. :) And it looks super cute on Sherman. :)

Anonymous said...

He really looks like he loves it!
I can certainly understand why.

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

LOL Sherman makes a great model! I'm impressed with the hangspun