Darling

Is anyone else reminded of Lady and the Tramp when you hear “Darling?” Maybe it’s because I watched it so much when I was little, but what’s what comes to mind when I hear the word.

Enough about movies, and on to the knitting.  Slowly but surely I’ve been catching you all up on my knitting.  Once the holiday season came to an end, personal knitting took over.  I told you what my Christmas knitting was. It wasn’t that much, it’s just that we were so busy, there wasn’t a lot of down time for knitting. 

Almost immediately after binding off the Yoked Cardigan, I cast on for a cowl.  The pattern?  Darling by Armida Joy of Fairytale Knits.   A simple, knit-in-the-round pattern, I think this took me only a couple of days.  It could be finished in a few hours if you had the time.  My version was knit from HandPaintedYarn in a reddish pink colorway.  This is the same yarn as the Yoked Cardigan, just in a different color.  It matches my coat quite nicely. 

The pattern creates eyelets every few rows and I’ve found while wearing it that the eyelet portions paired with the Stockinette rows create something similar to horizontal ribbing.  My cowl scrunches together in a way that makes it very warm and cozy and squishable. 

Now is the time to admit that I have an obsession with some types of knitting. These include but are not limited to shawls, fingerless mitts and cowls.  I could spend countless hours looking through different patterns.  And I do, sometimes.  Anyway, I have reservations about cowls.  You see…shawls you can always toss around your neck like a fancy scarf and away you go.  Fingerless mitts and/or gloves are perfect for fall weather when the air is a bit brisk but you don’t want full mittens or gloves.  They’re also great for driving because the mitt covers the cold steering wheel and still keeps your fingers free.  But cowls?  Yes, they keep your neck warm.  Yes, they’re pretty.  But they’re somewhat harder to wear.  ONLY because I’m never sure if I’m wearing them right.  Should they be pinned a particular way?  Do I need to wrap it twice?  Is it too big and floppy or too small and tight?  I LOVE the way they look on other people, but I always have it in my head that I don’t look quite right in them.  But I knit them anyway.  I figure, if I look ridiculous, someone will tell me so (I’m counting on Mr. Man or Mom or Sis to tell enlighten me when this occurs). 

So I wrote all that and you’re probably thinking, wow, what a terrible thing to say in a post about the cowl I just knit!  But it’s really the opposite because this cowl doesn’t make me feel any of those things!  I wear it under my coat and it keeps my neck warm in that space between the collar and chin where the coat doesn’t reach. I’ve even napped in it.

So go forth and knit yourself one as well!