A SAL, a KAL, & a Cowl

Three-fer! Ever wanted to feel like an Elizabethan queen (or king)? Then boy, do I have a pattern for you: the Court Jester Cowl! My friend Tracy Hudson, aka Himalaya, knit up a kickin' cowl, & when she posted it in the Novelty & Art Yarn Spinners group on Ravelry, my cohorts and I jumped on it. You're lookin' at me in mine - Buffoon in my projects - there in the photo-op at Black Sheep Gathering.

Soon as I saw Tracy in hers, I PMed her & demanded that she write up the pattern. Turns out, I wasn't the only one pestering her to do so. Studioloo Cindy also inquired, albeit more gently than I, about a pattern. Tracy was gracious enough to accommodate us, and it bloomed into a 3-way spin-along/knit-along in the N&AYS, COLORBOMBers, & Insubordiknit groups on Ravelry.

Designed to show off art yarn ("art for your neck" as Tracy dubbed it), it's a corrugated rib cowl with two contrasting art yarns, knit in the round. I had this skein of thick-and-thin COLORBOMB Singular TnT handspun in my stash, spun last year, & decided it would be a nice backdrop for some supercoils. I dug out some acid green Romney roving my friend Janet gave me & set to spinning up some LoopyDoopy Minis for the project.

This would have been a REALLY fast knit-up if I hadn't had to stop repeatedly to spin more supercoils. In fact, I ran out of the acid green fiber and had to spin the yellow Romney, and eventually spun up some chartreuse Romney. But they look great together, & unless I mention it they're just a "design element". ;)

I did a few pattern mods on mine: cast on fewer stitches to make it tighter in the neck like a turtleneck, added extra ribs, did my ribs as purls to pop the texture to the front, substituted seed stitch for stockinette at the hem, & made mine longer. Mine didn't ruffle around the bottom edge like the pattern because of the extra increases & length. I called mine 'Buffoon' because, according to Wikipedia, it "is a term for someone who provides amusement through inappropriate appearance and/or behavior.” Me to a T!

I was planning to line it with fabric (the Romney in the supercoils makes it a little scratchy), but I realized that would make it difficult to maintain the stretchiness, which it needs to be nice & snug around the neck. Besides, when it is cold enough to wear this TOASTY garment, I'll probably have a turtleneck on underneath it to keep it off my neck anyway.

Received the very BEST comment on it from Jim/Fosterson: "It's like a Gallifreyian High Council Collar on acid!" Gotta love a man that makes Dr. Who references!

Speaking of Jim, check out his version of the cowl. One of my COLORBOMB customers, apuffyj, made one using a skein of my Enwraptured handspun yarn - beautiful in blue! And the incomparable Miki/Knitzphat made a gorgeous chocolate brown/green version.

So, the pertinents: I used ~75 yards of a bulky singles for the main color, 'Psych', and ~40 yards of 'Acidic' supercoils for the contrast color. Knit on US13 needles. SUPER easy-peasy pattern, too. If you've been looking for a simple but effective way to show your handspun art yarn (or someone else's) off to best effect, this is a great lil' project.

Tags: knitting, art yarn, COLORBOMB Creations, handspun, cowl