GAPtastic Cowl for Kids

A GAPtastic Cowl for kids.  You knew it had to come to this because I've got the knitting bug.   After making several GAPtastics for adults, I wanted to make one that was kid-sized.  When my son was invited to his friend's 8th birthday party, I decided to add a cowl to her package of presents.

I cast on 95 sts and did a seed stitch.

Last time, I said I wanted to do a stretchy bind on and bind off.  So I did!  If you don't know how to do this, here is a YouTube video that shows you how to do a stretchy bind on and here is one for the stretchy bind off.   As you can see the pink Gaptastic has a straighter edge as a result of doing the stretchy bind on/off.

When it came to weaving in the ends, I decided to split the yard so it wasn't as noticeable.

I ended up tying a knot at the base before I weaved in the yarn tail.

I used one skein for this project and only had a small handful of yarn left.

The day we gave her the cowl, it was -25C.  Although it was beautiful outside, it was very very cold! 

Birthday girl loved her cowl and wore it to school the next day.  She was so cute in it!

Unfortunately, no one was around to model the cowl when I made it, so I decided to put it on.  Seems like the kid size can fit an adult too!



On another note, I am learning how to design my own personalized sloper set through BurdaStyle Academy.   When I finish the class, hopefully I'll have something to share!  In the meantime, more knitted cowls to follow.

Until next time,

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,