all about the neck around here

I seem to be on a cowl kick. This is the Tuesday Night Cowl, by Susan Lawrence, and it's a wonderful pattern.

I had this variegated red, grey and black wool from New Zealand - only one skein - and I wanted to use it for something. One of my favourite jackets is a black leather one with a huge Sonic the Hedgehog appliqued on the back. (Hey, I used to work for Sega! And it makes me the coolest Mom at school...) I knew the colours of this wool would look great (Sonic has red shoes), but I didn't want another scarf. I saw this pattern on Susan's blog, and knew right away that it work for this. The pattern is brilliant - when worn, it looks like the knitted fabric just falls into the perfect folds, but it's clever use of cables is what makes this happens. The cables are not your traditional cables - there are no purl stitches on either side to define the actual cable - it's all stockinette, so it just looks like an undulating, wavy piece of knitted fabric.

Because it's knit lengthwise and joined, any variegation appears as vertical striping, which I love. You start with a provisional cast on, then at the end, you can either Kitchener stitch it closed, or do a three needle bind off. I was in a hurry, and Kitchener is not my favourite thing in the world, so I opted for the three needle bind off. It worked fabulously - you can barely tell where it is on the finished piece.

Even on the inside - it's barely noticeable, and certainly can't be felt.

All in all, a great knit.

Now I've got a hankering for sweaters again. There may even have been swatching!