Friday, April 1, 2011

A Cowl for Mel in Clatskanie


   This weekend, Chris and I are visiting my good friend Melissa Lineberry and her husband Josh! They recently moved to Clatskanie (clat-scan-eye), OR from San Diego after a short stint in Idaho. Josh is one of the 5 police officers in this teeny tiny town of 1,700 people!! Melissa drove me around the whole town this morning and I saw where all 5 of the police officers live, city hall, the grocery store, the post office, the restaurant, the coffee shop…all in about 5 minutes. Chris and I both love Oregon so it is fun to visit them in this little town with their cute little house and beautiful view of the hills.

   Since I was coming down to visit the Lineberry’s in their house, I was thinking that we would get them a house warming present. Then I decided that Melissa would be the primary recipient of a housewarming gift anyways (since boys don’t really like house stuff) and that I would much rather KNIT her a present instead! I started with what is currently my favorite yarn… Malabrigo’s Rasta yarn, which I have already used in three other similar projects. This yarn is really chunky and requires pretty big needles, making for quick projects! Since Melissa’s favorite color was purple in high school, I chose an earthy, purple/green blend called Zarzamora. I love the Malabrigo yarn because it is kettle dyed so every skein is unique. While at my favorite yarn store (Great Yarns, in Everett) I also picked up some super cute wood buttons!
This is the pattern for the cowl, be warned…it is my first time writing out a pattern:

Yarn: Malabrigo Rasta Yarn
Needles: US Size 17
Cast on 20 stitches (total must be divisible by 4)
Row 1-4: knit two stitches, pearl two stitches, knit two stitches, pearl two stitches, continue to end of row
Row 5-8: pearl two stitches, knit two stitches, pearl two stitches, knit two stitches, continue to end of row
Repeat rows 1-8, going back and forth until it is 25-30 inches long, depending on how long you want it. If you use the Malabrigo yarn then just use up the whole skein but leave about 1-2 feet extra to sew on the buttons. Cast off when you have reached the desired length.
Sew on 4 over sized buttons (at least 1 inch diameter) at the end. This yarn is chunky enough that you don’t need to make button holes, just push the buttons through the gaps in the yarn. You can also choose to skip the buttons and just sow the ends together. I like to twist my cowls once when wearing them so if sewing the ends together you should decide ahead of time if you want to twist it once or not.
 Huge buttons, huge yarn, and huge needles


 Melissa wearing the final product!


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