Pink Lacy Cowl - from Cast On to Bind Off!

(Topic: Knitting)

Hi Friends!

This project was a quick one between others, with a pattern that I could easily memorize and let my fingers work on while I watched tv or listened to music. At one point I listened to one of my sisters play in a concert via a livestream, and knit on this project the whole time! The pattern was simple and repetitive, so it was easy to automate.

The original pattern picture.

I was petting a store model, which is what convinced me to buy both the yarn and pattern. Interestingly the store model had a mistake row about halfway up, so I was super careful the whole way because I wanted mine to be right!

Initial cast on. The markers are to help count.

You can see how after joining, this ended up being a pretty tight circle.

I ended up casting on twice, because initially I used the needle size that the pattern recommended, but wasn't sure it would end up draping at all! So I went up a needle size and tried again. The gauge seemed much better the second time.

However, in hindsight, I wish I'd thought to use a very stretchy cast on. The cast on edge, and even the slightly stretchy bind off edge, are very firm and much smaller in circumference than the bulk of the cowl.

I believe this is of the second cast on.

Starting to take shape!!

You can see the lacy form taking shape. The pattern basically alternated between purl rows and a lacy row, so it was easy to memorize.

Getting close to done! The tiny bundle is my tail from casting on and just needs to be trimmed and woven in.

One of the few minor annoyances with this project overall is that my skein had a knot. That's annoying, and tends to be a large company thing. So my project has one knot in the middle, if you look really closely. Pooh.

As I got close to the end, it became difficult to know how many rows to go. I felt like I was playing "yarn chicken" for probably the last 20 rows, because the yarn was so fine I kept thinking a row would use more than it did!

I ended up trying a few different bind off techniques. I wasn't happy with any of them - all of them created a tighter edge than the lacy fabric.

Finished! This is doubled - a little tight to put on, but snuggly.

Draped version. Note that the edge closer to my neck is BOTH bound off edges... it naturally folds in half because the bind off and cast on are both much tighter than the fabric, which has amazing drape.

Overall, this was a great project because the instructions were clear (aside from not suggesting a particular cast on or bind off), and because it was easy to work and memorize. It was a great filler project between more complex items I was working on (and needed a break from!).
That said, I'm not as impressed with it as a product. I probably could have cast on and bound off with bigger needles and then used the pattern size needle for the body and ended up with a more even hand, but because I followed the pattern, it has strange edges. I love the softness, but not the style, so I'm not sure how much I'll actually wear it.

Yours,

Sarah

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