Like a Cowl

Hi all -

March's Lola's Choice project from Laura Nelkin is a pattern called Like a Cowl. These projects are a surprise so you don't know what you're getting until it arrives in the mail:

This pattern is a cowl, but it has a strange shape, hence the name. You start by knitting the bottom border which has all of the beads:

I do love beads and this yarn is gorgeous! You then start shaping a bandana-like front using short rows:

You continue to add shaping with more and more short rows:

Once the shaping is completed, you knit up the cowl to the top:

And, finally, you bind off with Laura's really cool I-cord binding technique:

I love the way I-cord binding looks! But I haven't decided if I like this pattern or not. Sometimes I look at it and think "That is so cool!". Other times I look at it and think "That is so weird looking!" I definitely feel ready to hold up a stagecoach with this!

I blocked the cowl to flatten out the bottom of the "bandana" since it was curling, and I somehow elongated the bandana part at the same time:

I didn't notice this when I laid it down to dry so this is the current shape. I really don't like this shape so it looks like I'll be trying again with the blocking! A good lesson to me to pay attention to the entire shape of the piece when blocking and not just look at the portion that I'm worried about. I had basically just laid the piece on the mat and slid things around to get it symmetric-looking, then put 3 pins at the point to keep that flat without stepping back and looking at the whole thing. Now I know better.

Nancy