Knit a Super Tall Cowl for the Last Days of Winter

Winter is trying to leave the southern United States pretty quickly, but I’m not completely convinced we won’t get another cold snap before the season is over. I’m still intermittently working on a couple of sweaters I hope my daughter and I will get a chance to wear this season, and if you live in cooler climates you’ve probably still got time to knit something quick and enjoy it this winter.

And of course our Southern Hemisphere friends are gearing up for the cold, and quick accessories are always welcome on either end of the season, right?

Mama in a Stitch recently guest posted over at Stitch and Unwind, sharing a fun bulky cowl that’s really tall, really warm and a great scrap project since it has a bit of colorwork.

But don’t worry, the Alpine Heights Cowl is still really easy and a great way to practice if you haven’t done much (or any) stranded colorwork before. And because it’s worked in bulky yarn on size 17 US knitting needles, you’ll be done before the last snowdrift melts.

[Photo via Mama in a Stitch.]

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

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