Drop Everything and Knit This, STAT!

Unless you have been living under a rock (and I say that in the most loving way, since I live there most of the time) you might have noticed that cowls seem to be HOT.

I had sort of noticed this cowl phenomenon, but not really paid attention. Then, the other week when my mom was here, I was showing her how to use Ravelry, and being the Diaper Lady that she is, I thought she might have an interest in cowl patterns. Well, if you search for cowl patterns on Ravelry, you come up with 20 pages for crying out loud! And many of the patterns are free!

I found this one that I like a lot. It called for sport weight, but I added one 12 stitch repeat and used some leftover sock yarn. (Being that I have a dump truck load of leftover sock yarn on hand.)

Just a couple of soccer games and a movie or two later....and you have this funny looking lumpy tubey thing. (About 9 inches long, stretched.)

Block it out (using a hair dryer, to speed up the process if you are really excited!)

Voila! Blocked measurements 8" wide by 9" high.

Just the right amount of scrunch, not too much flop. You will notice that it doesn't even match what I'm wearing, so excited was I to snap a photo and break the news of this fantastic project.

See? Excited! I predict a bevy of these in my future. Match every outfit! Give them to friends! Make it the Official Teacher Gift of 2008! I won't leave you out, Mom!

The pattern is free and don't tell me you don't have 36 gm of sock yarn in your favorite color (or you could go all mavericky and use the sport weight that the pattern calls for), so go. Bedeck thyself in cowls and be happy.

Pattern: Razor Shell Neckwarmer

Yarn: Sophie's Toes Sock Yarn in Crimson (36 gms)

Needle: size 2 Addi Natura (I knit loosely and use 2 sizes smaller than usual)

Mods: cast on 108 instead of 96 to compensate for using fingering weight instead of sport.