The Gradient Cowl

One of the problems about where I live (and there are many) is that there is no room for my blocking board to be spread out. So I keep it at the house of some close friends and go over whenever I need to block an item. This has, so far, worked out for me. I don't think it inconveniences them (I blocked one item during the second seder this Passover), and it gets the work done.

I had made a gradient cowl with Shibui Silk Cloud, using the colours Suit (navy blue), Ivory (white), Ink (black) and Graphite (grey). It was a somewhat monochromatic endeavour, but I rather liked it. And with all that silk and mohair, is one of the softest things I've ever knitted. My good friend Nomi helped to graft together the two ends (it's knit flat, and is started with a provisional cast on), and without her, it would still be a scarf, rather than a cowl. While not difficult to knit, seed stitch can be a bit maddening at times, but it came out well.

These two pictures show it before blocking, but after I had sewn in all the loose ends. If I ever make this cowl again, I will knit the loose ends in as I go along, because there were so damn many of them.

I blocked it, by running a wire at each end of the cowl, and pinning it three times on each end. I had spritzed it well with water, and it was dry by the time the seder was done. I had made it for Marilyn, the mother of my Passover host. She loved it!


Later this week I am going back to the house where I block things, and will attempt to block the big ashes-of-roses shawl with cables I made for Adrienne. I will see her next weekend, and want to give it to her. I also have a feather boa that someone gave me, in hot pink (so not my colour) that I, will give to her. I think she can make more use of it than I can, because she's so bad ass and can really rock a boa, no matter what the colour.