I have a hard time buying yarn, I mean really, it's kind of silly because I knit for a living and I can claim every material I purchase and use for my business. So one would think that buying yarn would be easy right? Kind of like a free pass to purchase? Not for me, somewhere in the intersection of knowing that I have to use the yarn for my business in order to claim it, then needing a pattern plan in mind before I consider it being a part of my business. Then realizing that at the moment I have about 31874541358 projects on the go and realistically I am not actually going to be able to use the yarn I am thinking about buying for a few decades... I decide not to buy it... most of the time. But somehow the stash keeps growing, so despite the anxiety over buying yarn, I still manage to do it.
Probably because I am also the most obnoxious optimist, I figure it's a good thing since this tenacious hold on looking at the fullness rather than the lack has gotten me through War, PTSD, surgeries and everything else that a seriously wounded partner entails. This Can-Do attitude always over extends me, but I am also happiest when busy so I take it as win and carry on (typical optimist right?) So even though I know that the yarn comes with strings (har har) I do still purchase, and have it sit in my stash staring at me, beseeching me, begging to be knit up and fulfill its ultimate purpose.
At one point I had picked up a set of Hawthorne yarn from Knitpicks, the set was called Paradise and the combination of bright tropical colors was exactly what I love. Saturated color, decent yardage, just enough color fluctuation to make the yarn interesting but not so much as to obscure finicky patterning. It was perfect and it was mine, and now it was making me feel guilty.
So one day when walking past my stash bins I just absentmindedly reached in and grabbed the pink skein. I thought "Okay Girl, you are always mentally griping about having more yarn than you are comfortable with, so take this skein and do something with it RIGHT NOW." I took a slight detour to the bookshelf for a stitch dictionary, and some beads also jumped into the mix, I wound the skein into a cake right then, did some quick math, and cast on.
A few rounds of garter stitch to begin, and then a repeating lace and cables pattern with a lily of the valley motif where the nupps are swapped out for beads alternated with complementing sections of mock cables. In my haste, I actually did not count the beads and ran out halfway through, but since I was doggedly completing this cowl I subbed in some lighter ones that are almost identical. If you really want to create a cowl exactly the same buy half the beads, realize that the original color is out of stock and hard to find, then sub in something close.
This is a super pretty knit, it is straightforward and once you get the hang of the Slip 1 yarnovers you will be off to the races. There is a little fumbling with some of the patterning being over the beg of the round, but ultimately this 1 skein wonder is so pretty and satisfying I think you will really love knitting it.
So grab a skein and set to it!
