Wednesday, February 03, 2016

Knitting: GAP-tastic Cowl


It's the GAP-tastic Cowl and it's all mine!!

When people ask me, "what have you been doing?", I think "what haven't I been doing?"  I have a lot of time consuming hobbies - sewing, baking, cooking, knitting, home improvement, gardening, photoshop design, this blog, etc..    I've always got multiple things on the go.   Those who know me, know that sewing is my #1 stressor and stress reliever.  But, lately I've been turning to knitting.  I made the Katy Cowl twice - one for my sister and one for a friend.  While I really liked both of those cowls, I also wanted to try knitting in the round.

I decided to knit a cozy cable cowl designed by Purl Soho.   So pretty.  But in hindsight, not very practical for me.  This cowl was my downfall.   But unfortunately I didn't know it until I was more than half way through.


As I continued to knit, I noticed that the cowl was getting very big.  I tried it on and this is what it looked like and I was only half way through the pattern.


I began to wonder if I should stop.  I even made hubby try it on (which he did - xoxo).  It was hard to wear under my coat, but also hard to wear above my coat since I have a hood.

I decided to undo the cowl after I had a nightmare about it.  #2 got his hands on my yarn and left me this yarn snowman.  That gave me the push I needed to find another pattern.


Enter the GAPtastic cowl.  It's one of the most popular cowl patterns on Ravelry and the designer made it available as a free download.  Thank you!

Again, I used the Wool-Ease in grey marble with size 13 needles.  I used 10 less stitches than the pattern called for as I wanted my cowl to be closer to my neck.  I cast on using the long tail method with a 150" tail (24" left over after cast-on).


It was easy doing the seed stitch and it wasn't boring at all!


I was done very quickly and bound off using a regular bind off.


I do regret not doing a super stretchy cast-on/off.


My join in the round needs work, but my bind off in the round was well hidden.  I followed this tutorial on how to neaten the last stitch.


So there you have it.  A cowl for me!


It was perfect for our day outdoors at Winterfest this weekend.  Check out this cool ice sculpture!


Feeling cozy,
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5 comments:

  1. It looks great! Happy to hear that you finally made a cozy cowl for yourself : ) I heard about this Gaptastic cowl and will probably try it next.

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    1. Thanks Lily! It's the perfect thing to knit while waiting for the kids to finish a lesson.

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  2. Beautiful cowl! What yarn did you use btw? I can't seem to find any soft wool blend yarn anywhere!

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    1. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick from Michaels. It gets softer after washing but I am allergic somewhat to wool so I like that it's an 80/20 blend.

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