Friday 18th November - Advent Cowl Planning (2)

 Measure twice, cast on once....

I've measured my last year's cowl again; it is 65 cm around, and 15 cm wide. I've put it on because my neck is cold and it is a loose but not 'draggly' fit.

I know that I made it using double knitting and 4 mm needles and I must have made the large size. No gauge was specified. The alternative was Aran and 4.5 mm needles, but as I don't seem to have any 4.5 mm needles, that seems to solve the question of which yarn I used!

Each day had 8 rows of 36 stitches to do, a total of 300 stitches give or take, which took me around 15 minutes.

Now for my version;

I have knitted a trial swatchy sort of thing; and even managed to put it on! 

There is a lot to learn from it;

1. use a smaller size of needle for the rib - I didn't at the bottom edge and I don't like the way it flares out.

2.Choose patterns with an easily memorable repeat - I am slowly building up a set of 'peerie' patterns - the smaller motifs used in between the bigger motifs in traditional fair-isle (see example below)

3.Mock rib works fine for me - in the round, you do K1 P1 on row 1 and then K on row 2; repeat for 3 and 4. I did the bottom on 5mm needles like all the rest, but switched to 4mm for the top which worked better. 

Gauge;

 Gauge; I am getting 20 stitches and 24 rows to 10 cm with aran yarn and 5mm needles. he texture is quite close, like a warm jumper, but not stiff.

I knitted the trial on just 84 stitches, and that would makes it about 55 cm around. It fits like the collar on a jumper.   

 Three rounds of knitting this morning (two plain, one patterned) took me 15 mins. 84 stitches time 3 = 252 stitches in fifteen minutes.  

To get the desired width, I would need another 20 stitches - so cast on 104 stitches, (double check; 20 stitches is 10 cm, 84 stitches is 55 cm, so 84 + 20 is 104 which is 65 cm) of Aran yarn on 4 mm needles using main colour. 

To get the desired depth of 15 cm, I will need a total of 32 rounds including borders.

The top and bottom borders are 3 rows each (cast on/off plus 3) rounds, leaving 26 rows for the patterns. So the days are;

• Day 1 cast on plus one round
• Day 2 two rounds 
• Day 3 change to 5mm needles and do two pattern rounds 1/2
• Day 4 pattern rounds 3/4
• Day 5 pattern rounds 5/6
• Day 6 pattern rounds 7/8
• Day 7 pattern rounds 9/10
• Day 8 pattern rounds 11/12
• Day 9 pattern rounds 13/14
• Day 10 pattern rounds 15/16
• Day 11 pattern rounds 17/18
• Day 12 pattern rounds 19/20
• Day 13 pattern rounds 21/22
• Day 14 pattern rounds 23/24
•  Day 15 pattern rounds 25/26
• Day 16 change to 4 mm needles, single rib round and knit round
• Day 17 single rib round, then use a 5mm needle to cast off
• Day 18 weave in all the ends.

But there are still 6 days to go before Christmas Eve! So if I leave weekends as catch-up days then that deals with that.

I think I am ready to go to the next stage.....