I believe that the cowl was sent to knitters the world over to provide us with the ability to make a hand knit gift for someone in under 36 hours during the work week. You know the time line I'm talking about: "....so-and-so cordially invites you to attend a party in honor of so-and-so in x amount of days". Naturally your mind races--do I have any recently finished hats to give? Umm, hello, it's supposedly April, not exactly hat weather. How about a Mason-Dixon Ball Band Dishcloth? Nice, but somewhat awkward. Happy Birthday! You can use this to clean up the puke after the party! No, the project must be special and fast--this is why the cowl exists, I'm sure of it.
The Specs:
Pattern: Chickadee Cowl by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: Pagewood Farm St. Elias in 'Turquoise', two strands held together.
Needles: Size 9
Mods: I cast on 99 sts and it came out perfectly! I quite like the smaller stitches. Another winning pattern from our friend at TTL.
This is for a friend/colleague who turned 50. Not the friend colleague you see pictured here--you might recognize her as my impossible stylish French pal Sandrine. I love her because of her photogenic ways and also her willingness to go along with whatever I propose. I send her a brief email in the morning "need you for a photo shoot" and she dutifully waits for me outside the classroom and helps me scout out a good location. She never complains and is a sooper trooper. Sadly the greenhouses were closed for spraying, so we made do with the parking lot.
Those of you who guessed that I'd be working on the Acorn cowl were correct! I can't wait to get going on that, such a great pattern. We really are fortunate to be knitters at a time when so many awesome indie designers like Kirsten Kapur (SLOW DOWN I can't KEEP UP), Larissa Brown (Knitalong is a rad book that you MUST have), Pam from Flint Knits (attn: please don't make $$ of her FLS pattern, to do so is extreme douchery and will cause me to sick the Marxist Curmudgeon on you) and Kate (The Selbu Modern and Opus Spicatum made 2008 a better year for me and 2009 is looking up because of Springtime Bandit ) are working hard to keep us busy with interesting, creative patterns. Let's all do our best to respect their work and support them, ok?
20 comments:
I love that cowl. I've gotta get some things off the queue and on the needles soon! I assume you're going to MDS&W. I should have planned to go this year, but my family no longer lives in the DC area, so it is a bit less convenient. Have a great time.
I can't decide what I love more about this post- the exquisite turquoise cowl or use of the phrase "extreme douchery".
I agree with Gale, working "extreme douchery" into the post really deserves accolades!
Love the cowl. That turquoise is beautiful!!
Thanks for the supportive words for all of the indie designers out there. My plan for tonight is to snuggle in bed with my copy of Knitalong and decide which of the many patterns that I love in the book to cast on first.
That is a pretty cowl! What a great gift!
Extreme douchery - hee!
Very cool looking! I love the blog
okay. we all need a friend like sandrine!
LOVE the cowl. the absolute PERFECT gift.
Seriously, you think you're a slow knitter? That stitch pattern likely would have caused me to stop altogether after the first inch.
I just read Flint Knits' Pam's post the other days on the FLS and all the "douchery" going on, and I think I might have to report one of my LYSes -- they're giving the pattern away, and from what I can tell, they're not crediting the designer at all.
A ban on all forms of "extreme doucherie". Some people just don't know how to live. And some people, like you pointed out, have been giving us some rad patterns to knit with. They deserve our respect!
I've always loved Chickadee. Yours is delightful!
Do you think that maybe Sandrine is hoping you'll say: "Mais, ça te va à merveille, garde-le!"
The cowl just may overtake the scarf. It's a friggin godsend.
Thank heavens for the cowl! And thank you for introducing "extreme douchery" into my daily lexicon. Works wonders for oh so many NYC situations, trust me!
So gorgeous! (per usual) And yes to no more extreme douchery.
Loving your post - as usual - and snorting my tea out my nose at the "extreme douchery" comment! Of course I agree completely!
thanks for the support! very well said, and much appreciated.
Thanks for alerting the rest of us to Springtime Bandit. I queued it immediately. Great pattern.
I love the sea glass green/blue of this cowl. And dang it is a quick one. I whipped up a Chickadee as a birthday present for my sister. I knit & gifted so fast I didn't even have time to take a photo.
I think we're experiencing the golden age of knitting with all the great indie designers in our midst.
Ooh, I need a fabulous and photogenic french friend too!
Another stunning cowl, can't wait to see your acorns!
Happy knitting-
ali
Beautiful cowl, beautiful pattern, incredible color wool! You are so lucky; all I have is a stone statue to model my scarves. The dogs even hide when they see the camera...
Great cowl, and lovely yarn choice - that turquoise is super-duper! I'm loving the look of that stitch.
Lovely color. It looks nice and thick too. Nice job lady.
Love that blue! And "extreme douchery"? You are so hilarious :)
knittymuggins
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