Bow Ties Are Cool

I don't know why but I can't stop obsessively checking the free pattern testers group on Ravelry.  I would be lying if I said that it was completely altruistic.  Helping a fellow knitter is a really good thing but you know what's even better... finding something cool and new.  The Bow Ties are Cool Cowl is cool.



This was such a fun and easy knit. Just keep casting on and casting off with a bunch of increases and decreases in between. 



The pattern may be the star of this show but the yarn was a very capable supporting player. Dream in Color makes some fabulous yarns - and my stash is full of them. This is Everlasting in a color called Crisp.  It was new to me and isn't it fantastic?  Look at the colors. The changes are so subtle and it has a colored pencil quality to it.  It feels really soft too.




Doesn't Stinkette look serious there? Where'd my giggly girl go?

Hats Tested and Claimed

I have many obsessions and quite a few of them are knit related.  I can get lost considering yarns and patterns for hours.  One of the newest incarnations of the obsession is the test knitting groups.  I really don't know why, but helping a fellow knitter to get a pattern right and, of course, getting the first crack at it, is a kick.  I think that there's something about the deadlines too.  I'm a bit better under pressure.



This isone of my most recent test knits.  It's the Cable Fantasy Hat by Natalie Volyanyuk.  It was a nice quick knit.  I used some Dream in Color Classy in a color with a fabulous name - In Vino Veritas.  The pattern and the yarn played very well together.

There was a moment when I thought the outcome of this project might not be a happy one.  Immediately after casting off this hat barely hit my ears!  Ooops.  But I trusted in the designer and just gave it a nice, long, soak before blocking it hard on an inflated balloon.



In the end it turned out perfectly.  It fits snugly and just covers the ears.  It's such a nice hat that when in asked Stinkette to model it she fell hard and absconded with it.  It has been claimed for now and forever.