Easy, Air-y, Purse-stitch Cowl

 This is my fourth version of a one-skein cowl that I decided to name the Easy, Air-y, Purse-stitch Cowl.  It was so popular (in my family) that daughter #1 selected a pale blue version for herself; daughter #2 requested a very long one made out of grey sock yarn, and stylish sister #2 was thrilled with her ice-grey one! 

The cowl pictured below is 44 inches long.  This is long enough to wrap twice around neck. 

 

Here are the instructions:

Materials:

One ball of S Charles Luna lace weight mohair/silk/glitter yarn.  You could also use  Kid Silk Haze (no glitter).  About 230 yards. Note: You can purchase either yarn at the Sow's Ear in Verona.  About $14 per ball.

Needles:  For the version in the photo I used size 7.  For two previous cowls I used size 9.  For the long cowl using fingering weight sock yarn I used Size 4. 

Basically, use whatever lace-weight or fingering weight that you want.  Use a needle size that is larger than the recommended needle size on the ball band. 

 

 Stitches used:

1) garter stitch: i.e. knit every row
2) purse stitch: Worked on an even number of stitches
 P1, *yo, P2 tog*, P1  Repeat between ** until the last stitch (which is the P1)

Instructions:

--Cast on 32 stitches.  (Note, I used a provisional cast-on so that I could use the Kitchner Stitch to weave the two ends of the cowl together.  If you use a traditional cast on, you will have to sew the two ends together.)

--Work four rows in garter stitch (i.e. knit every row) ; this gives you two rows of "garter bumps."

--{Work 12 rows of Purse Stitch.  That is, P 1, *yo, P2tog*, Repeat between ** until one stitch remains in the row, P1. 

Work 8 rows of Garter Stitch.}

--Repeat between { } until you have just enough yarn to work about six rows of garter stitch.  I eyeballed this and used all but one yard of the yarn!!  !!Do NOT work six rows of garter stitch!!

--Work FOUR rows of garter stitch.

--If you used a Provisional Cast-On, now you do the Kitchener Stitch to weave the two ends of the cowl together.  If you used a traditional cast-on, now you do a traditional bind-off and sew the ends of the cowl together!!

Done!!

Jamaica Holiday or PATIENCE

I have finally, finally, finally finished the UFO from a Dale of Norway pattern called "Jamaica."  As you saw in my last post, there were issues with the project.  It seems that every step had some type of slow-down complication.  That hex persisted until the end. 

The collar and button bands were tedious and only took three tries on the front band to find the appropriate number of stitches to pick up per rows of knitted fabric.  The magic number for me, using smaller 2.0mm needles, was pick up one stitch in each of three rows, skip one row, pick up one stitch in each of two rows, skip one row and repeat.  Of course I tried two different versions and ripped them out until I found this ratio that produced a nice firm fabric.

Then, I bound off around the neck and down both button bands using a two stitch I-cord bind off.  This gives a nice finished edge, I think. Despite the style these days, I do not like button bands that droop significantly lower than the back of the sweater.  (Guess I sound like an old fart, don't I.  Sigh.  I never thought my life would become one of an old fart.)  The I-cord prevents stretching of the button bands, but it seemed to take forever and ever.

The keyword for this project has been PATIENCE.  And, of course, perseverance.  But above all, patience.  I wonder how I ever developed the patience to keep working at a project over the years and not abandon it.  My husband loses his patience, on my behalf, when he sees me rip out knitting and attempting to re-design something.

In education/teaching circles, I know there is a lot of talk about developing patience in kids; maybe they don't use this word but the concept is the same.  Kids are short on the attention span and short on patience.  I'm not saying that I am a model of the patient human.  Rather, I often have a short fuse in the anger department, and I am very impatient with other humans who don't seem to work effectively or who thwart my progress--on anything.  But, give me a project (most projects that is) and I will keep at it until it is fairly well-done and complete, even if I need to re-do things repeatedly.

Is this patience or is it something else?  Refusal to give in or give up?  Not wanting to "waste" money by throwing away an incomplete project?  Anything else?

How do you define patience?  And how did you learn to have patience?