For the past few years I have been able to travel across the state to a Fiber Festival in Tacoma, which is really such a great way to make connections and see what is going on with other Fibery loving folks. Last year we took the whole family over on a whim and had a really lovely time browsing the Marketplace and then visiting the Point Defiance Zoo. At the Market Place my oldest daughter (who has no interest in knitting whatsoever, but is a keen enabler just like her mom) found two incredible skeins of handspun handdyed worsted weight yarn from Chameleon Colorworks.
I instantly fell in love with the colors of these skeins, one was a neon pink, bright yellowy green and a dark navy blue. Now anyone who actually reads this blog, knows my designs or knows me would at this point say, "blue? Meghan? really? surely not". And you would be quite right, if this blue was say on it's own I wouldn't give it another look, not even 100% cashmere 80% off would give me pause to take a second glance at a skein of yarn which was purely and totally this blue on it's own. Such is my life, blue is just not my soul color. But. Mix this particular blue with a neon pink and bright yellow green? and it is something special, a background, a foil, a vehicle with which to promote the rightful ruling color palette of the universe. (only mostly kidding). Add to that the challenge of knitting something simple and I was inspired! Simple is not technically my strength, I don't typically enjoy very simple knits as I find that I get bored easily. But with this much going on in the yarn even stockinette would be a party for the eyes, it seemed a safe bet for a great design.
The other skein was an incredible mix of olive green and deep teal with a rusty red running through. Perfect Man colors for a his and hers cowl combo, but what to design that was wild enough for me and muted enough for my Hubs? (It is worth mentioning at this point that the model in the photo is not my husband, it's my brother, he has red hair, I do not, he is tall and handsome and muscular, I am not, but I am 7 years older and I win. Just needed saying.) It was decided at our magical Canadian Thanksgiving get together last October that this cowl really looked great with his hair and so perhaps a sibling photoshoot was in order. I say magical because we somehow managed to get 2 extended families from 3 different countries together in one place at the same time AND we had turkey, AND I didn't cook any of it! .. see I told you it was magical. (P.S. he is a great cook too, but I like to think I taught him, and 7 years older, I win)
But back to the actual design, I knew I wanted to design something that was easily adjustable, could be worked in just about any yarn you could ever want to work with and really allowed even the loudest yarns to sing their song. Moss Stitch; simple elegant moss stitch was the way to go, and a welted edging that changed the texture from all over nubbly to horizontal stripes, perfect.
Porifera is worked flat and then seamed together, it is first worked with increases to create the angled end and then finished with a rectangle. The angled side of the triangle is sewn to the bound off end of the rectangle. Nothing fussy or hard and only one seam, its simple, special and asymmetical. You can wear it anyway you like, the larger version can be doubled up into a cowl, and the smaller version sits nicely on the neck. You can adjust the size of this cowl easily and it is perfect for the wildest yarn you can think of.
You can find this pattern on Ravelry at the link below
