Not My Usual Tuesday

This morning finds me luxuriating in an entire Tuesday at home.  It came about because I had forgotten to get some tests done and changed my regular doctor appointment.  Without the doctor appointment, I talked with my spinning compatriot, Frazzledknitter, and we are skipping spinning this week.  I think I will bake some muffins later.  I haven't done that in a really long time and my landlord, Son2, has always loved muffins.

Yesterday was quiet too, but I got a bunch of things done.  I worked on my stash project on Ravelry.  I am convinced photos are going to be as much of a benefit as the original work inputting all my yarn.  It will allow me to shop my stash more effectively for colour combinations.  I also did the second sleeve of my top.

I might stop there and call this done, except the neckline is really wide. Really wide.  I took off some stitches at each side but not nearly enough.  Had I followed the pattern exactly, this neckline would have been off my shoulders.  As it is, it goes beyond my straps, which is never a good look for me.  This isn't a real problem because from the start, I planned on coming back to the neck to finish it.  Now I just have to decide how.  Still I am pretty pleased with how it came out. It would have been better if I had had equal amounts of gray and the multi, but still, a pretty favourable result.

I started something new too.  After my contemplating purse knitting the other day, and with time flying by, I decided it was time to begin something I have been planning for a while.  Several years ago, I went to Interweaves Knitlab. One of the things I came home with was some Pigeonroof Studios Mini packs and coordinating full skeins to make cowls for my daughter in laws.  It struck me that the cowl or eternity scarf I intended would make darn good purse knitting.  

I had seen the most divine loop at another market vendor.  She had been selling kits where the mini colours reflected Downton Abbey colours.  It was really lovely, but the kits were sold out. I loved the idea and bought yarns to make something very similar for my lovely young women.(The vendor may have been Canon Hand Dyes with the Downton Abbey colours in their Charles Sock yarn.)

The gray is a skein of Invictus Yarns Beyond, a merino nylon and cashmere blend.  The Pigeonroof Studios minis are Silken Sock, a blend of Merino and silk.  Both are just lovely to work with.

This cowl is gray and purples.  The colours are perfect for the eventual owner.

I am knitting this on 3.5 mm needles, possibly a little loose for the yarn.  I might take it back and restart on 3.25s.  I am going to knit just a little farther so I can pin it out and see it clearly before I decide.  The cowl is a tube so each inch of it will be two layers, plus it is going to be long enough to be wrapped at least three times around her neck. Warmth is not going to be an issue but I am not 100% convinced the yarn will look it's best at this gauge.  

A couple of structural notes.  I am using a pattern, Matilde Skår's Striped Cowl.   The pattern is using 8 rows of each colour, but I am going with 7 for the same reason that I used 7 on my monster socks.  It feels natural.  Plus, this way, each colour from these lovely little sets (I have two) will make three stripes.  I hope.

You can also see the bit of yarn I knit instead of a provisional cast on.  I knit 3 rows with a waste yarn.  It's going to be a very long graft at the end and I want it to be as clean a graft as humanly possible. The pickup of stitches will be so much cleaner this way.

As I am sitting here now, I do see that I have more than 7 rows of gray at the start, but that will be sorted out later.  Or it will change if I go down a needle size.  

Anyway, on to a good days work.  Knitting and a little baking and maybe by evening a little spinning when my hands wear out.  Not my usual Tuesday.