Knitting

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Review – Cowlgirls!

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Whether its cowls, gaiters, snoods, bandannas, collars, necklaces or scarves, Cathy Carron’s Cowlgirls brings you the variations that you love.

Knit them back and forth. Knit them in the round (and a chart showing how to go from one to the other), this book revels in accessories to keep your neck warm and snuggly in stripes, laces, braids and cables, stitch patterns.

Forget tired scarves and bulky turtlenecks—funky, chunky, hip and happening cowls are where it’s at! Following up her hit book Hattitude, author and designer Cathy Carron weaves a fashion statement that puts in-the-know women head and shoulders above the rest. Among the more than 40 patterns provided here are a cozy neck wrap featuring a built-in iPod holder, a lacy drawstring hood, and a woven necklace sparkling with Swarovski crystals.

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Comments

  3. Just completing “Hidden Treasure”. Looks great only problem is there are errors, this is the 1st cowl I’m making, hope there aren’t errors throughout the book.
    You don’t k2 p2 on rows 2 & 4 and bind off on
    row 3. Things start to go wrong when you get to the buttonhole flap as this is the one complicated row in the whole project.
    Just read it through and do what makes sense to you and not what it says!

Have you read?

Knit a Blanket with the Texture of a Ceiling

Knitwear designers can get inspiration from almost anything when it comes to re-creating a color scheme, an image or a texture in stitches. Sometimes the inspiration isn’t always obvious in the finished project, but sometimes it’s more literal. 

That’s the way it is with the Tin Ceiling Blanket from Purl Soho. Not just because the inspiration is in the name, but if you’ve ever seen one of these old ceilings you can see that the design of the blanket is quite similar to the pattern of the tin tiles. 

This is also a good example of the idea that you don’t have to use fancy stitch patterns or lots of color to make a big impact with your knits. This single-color blanket (designed by Gianna Mueller and inspired by a washcloth and towel set designed by Sandi Rosner) is made completely with knits and purls, other than slipped stitches at the beginning of rows to make neater edges. 

The pattern is written out row by row, but there’s also a chart, which means this project is a great opportunity to practice reading a chart where you can check your work against the written pattern if you need to. 

It comes in two sizes, a crib blanket and a throw. The yarn used in the sample is an organic cotton sold by the cone, which is a great way to get a large quantity of yarn and have fewer ends to weave in. In fact, you can knit either size of the blanket with just one cone of yarn, which isn’t inexpensive but makes you a great, sturdy, heirloom quality but still washable blanket you’ll use for years to come. (Of course you can use any sport weight yarn you like to make this blanket.)

Check out all the details and grab the free pattern from Purl Soho. 

[Photo: Purl Soho]