More Behind the Scenes

So I promised more information about the cowl, tam and those Badger mittens.  Let´s start with the cowl, shall we.

Jami´s  chunky cowl was in a cream colour but the style remains the same.  

The cowl was knit with a super chunky yarn and large needles (I used 12mm or 17 US needles for this set, but the needle size varies depending on the chunkiness of the yarn.)  One casts on any even number of stitches to create the width of the cowl and proceeds using a ribbing pattern of k1, p1 etc. for Row 1.  On Row 2  k1, yo, p1, yo, etc.  For Row 3 repeat Row 1, the ribbing pattern, and all the yo stitches are dropped.   So on the yo rows the width of the cowl is doubled and then in Row 3 the regular size is again achieved; essentially Row 1 and 2 are repeated dropping the yo as you go along on a new Row 1.  The effect creates a very open weave perfect for a temperate climate.  This style of cowl has been quite trendy the last few years and I have made several of them.

The tam I guess you could say I designed 

So to make the tam I needed to find a chunky toque pattern to direct me to the number of stitches to cast on.  Ravelry, of course, offered up Big Chunky Comfy Hat by Erica Kempf Broughton.  It gave me the details I needed, like number of stitches to cast on and rows to work before needing to begin decreasing for the top.  After I had the appropriate length for the body, I simply followed the decrease instructions as they were written.  This made the top of the tam much more dense than the openness of the body, but Jami said she liked that change.  (BTW, I somehow had a set of 12 mm/17 US sized 16 inch circular needles on hand.  The tam is knit in the round; the cowl is knit on straight needles and the cast on and cast off edges are sewn together.)   I have no idea if I bought these large circular needles or if they were given to me, but it was great to not have to make a needle purchase.  Serendipity was ruling that day.)

As for the Badger mittens, I had made a set last year where I followed the instructions perfectly trying to keep the floats long so as to not break up the white colour work with the red too much and vice versa.  But long floats and gloves do not play well together.  Fingernails and rings get caught up in those floats and can wreak havoc on the interior of the mittens.  So this time around, just as with the Badger toques, I wrapped the travelling colour in place after each stitch.  I learned this technique as the Cowichan way of knitting with colours, but it is also called weaving in the unused colour.  Whatever the name of the knitting technique is it creates a dense and warm fabric because there are two strands of yarn behind every stitch and there is a shadow of the image on the inside of the mitts.

If you look closely you can almost read Badgers and more clearly see the claw

I felt free to use this technique on my second pair of mittens because I had purchased the yarn for this pair and the first set was made up with yarn from a kit.  It has been my experience that the amount of yarn sold in a kit will not accommodate much of a change in technique.  And the great thing about having done the toque and both mittens as the instructions stated meant I could in a second time around knit with confidence using a slightly different technique because I already understood the basic construction.  Here´s what the inside looks like of one of the mittens.  Note when each stitch is wrap there is almost a shadow imagine on the wrong side.

My brothers do follow my blog and one of them felt a need to respond to the photos of the Badger mitten. This particular brother is a man of few words, but the photo turned him almost verbose.  This is what he wrote:

These are so cool and look amazing. You should be very proud of your skill and hobby!!!  This looks very complicated to me and I have no idea how it is done??? I have a friend who is into wood carved wildlife figures and is really pretty good. I could never do what he is doing probably due to a lack of skill, but I at least feel I understand his skill. Your skill with knitting I don't even get to 1st base. It looks nerve racking going from red to white??? Well these are just the bomb.

Paul shared an unsolicited similar sentiment as I finished the pair of mitten on Saturday.   He likened the effect to painting with wool and was impressed with my ability to create something that looks so complicated with yarn.  (Perhaps only I know I merely followed a great pattern from Camas Creek).

This type of recognition of my abilities in knitting is very touching for me.  Both comments are coming from men who know virtually nothing about what I am doing ,yet appreciate what my skills create.  This is all the appreciation I need; I am inspired.