Crocheted Calm Cowl: Because Everyone in Southern California Needs More Extreme Winter Wear

One fine November day whilst gazing out the window of my office at the cloudless, bright, 80-degree day, I had the most obvious revelation- I clearly need a thick, exceedingly warm, cold-weather cowl or I could never make it through the harsh winter of Southern California.  I had been eying the "Calm Cowl" pattern by Suzana Davidovic on Ravelry for awhile, and RIGHT NOW was the time to make it- before temperatures began to dip into the 70s and the chill became unbearable.

This pattern (located for FREE here- you need a Ravelry account to view it), is extremely popular with over 2,000 completed projects.  I love using patterns that have been so widely tested on Ravelry- that means that any weird little errors have usually been worked out and corrected by the author, and sometimes other crocheters will provide alterations to the original that can really enhance the final project.  I looked through the notes of quite a few "Calm Cowl" makers and I decided to use the alteration to the first two rows suggested by Ravelry user OneFlewOver (project notes and alterations located here).  The alterations resulted in a pretty, delicate edging and I'm very happy with the results.  So happy in fact, that if I were to make another, I would add the same edging to the other side.

The entire thing is made using single and double crochet stitches, but instead of working stitches into the stitches of the previous row, the stitches are worked between the stitches of the previous row.  This results in a very solid look because the stitches are all so close together.  The project is worked in the round and the pattern calls for each row to be joined.  If I were to do it over, however, I would keep working in the round without joining because the seam looked a little wonky on so delicate a cowl.  If you do make this without joining rounds- please, for the love of all that's holy, remember to use a stitch marker. If you don't, you will certainly lose your place after about 3 rows and end up tossing the whole thing out a window.

One thing I particularly love about this cowl is that both the front AND the back of the stitches looks pretty, which definitely isn't always the case:

You can twist and wrap this thing to your heart's desire without having to worry about revealing an ugly side.

I desperately wanted to try out a luxury yarn on this project, particularly the lovely Madeline Tosh DK Merino that many Ravelry users chose. But at over $20 a skein, this cheapskate had to pass.  I substituted the (very cheap) Caron Simply Soft in white (it took a little over 1 full skein), which I already had in my hoard.  The texture came out quite nice, in my humble opinion.  One day I'll spring for the fancy stuff, but the Simply Soft resulted in a perfectly nice scarf that hopefully won't smother me to death when I insist on wearing it outside because IT'S WINTER AND I WANT TO WEAR A SCARF even if the sun is withering the plants on my patio with its relentless gaze.

Halloween Crochet: Amigurumi Candy Corn!

 After a rather long blogging (and crocheting!) hiatus, I have returned just in time for everybody’s favorite crochet season- autumn and Christmas.  This year I celebrated Halloween by trick or treating with one of my favorite 1-year-olds, so I knew I wanted to make her something cute for the occasion.  During one of my many Ravelry browsing sessions, I came across the free, squeal-inducingly cute Candy Corn pattern from Josephine Wu (you'll also recognize her as the designer of the Amigurumi Panda I blogged about).  The link requires you to log in to Ravelry to see the pattern.  Make an account if you don't already have one- it's free and the absolute best source for crochet and knitting patterns on the Interwebs.  But back to the candy corn- this wee fellow is the perfect size to fit in a toddler palm and I already had the right yarn colors in my hoard, so crochet him I did.

I used Red Heart worsted weight acrylic yarn, which, despite being on the scratchy side for projects like blankies and scarves, is perfect for amigurumi (with the added bonus of being cheap and available everywhere).  The stiffness of the acrylic yarn helps the amigurumi carcasses to hold their shape before they are stuffed, and the yarn plies (plyes? Is this a word?) are pretty good about not splitting even with the little size F crochet hook this project calls for.  A lot of crocheters prefer 100% cotton yarn for amigurumi projects since it tends to fuzz less, but that stuff kills my fingers and I actually prefer the slightly fuzzy finished look of acrylic.

Isn't he cute?  My friends' daughter Emma seemed to like him well enough, so I am satisfied.  We had a grand time taking our kids trick or treating around our local neighborhood (and by "our" kid I am referring to Gareas.  He was a slightly unhappy blue crayon).  I was unfortunately reminded of how much I despise middle school-aged children as they ran amok in the streets without their parents to keep them from acting a fool, but alas, these situations cannot always be avoided.

Now that Halloween is out of the way, I am looking forward to tackling an (over)ambitious amount of crochet projects for winter and Christmas.  Expect to see more posts than you have been lately!

America! The Jolly Amigurumi Poos Return.

The Jolly Poos have returned from their respective homelands, and we have returned from our European adventure.  Our luggage has vomited on my living room and I can’t stop waking up at 3am to eat, but we did a lot of memorable things that are totally worth a bit of jet lag.  The short list of tourist traps (but beautiful tourist traps!) we visited during our two-week trip included the Eiffel Tower (could it really be avoided on a first trip to Paree?  At least we didn’t wait in line to climb the thing), the Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomphe, the Sacre-Coeur Basilica, Notre Dame, Chartres, the Louvre, the Orsay Museum, the Rodin Museum, the Tuileries Gardens, Versailles, Chartres, the British Museum, the Tower of London, Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross, Buckingham Palace, the Tate Modern museum, Westminster Abbey (just the outside—20 pounds to wait in line for an hour to go inside that thing on the last day of the trip? I think not), and the crowning vacation jewel—the Warner Brothers Harry Potter studio tour in Leavesden.  We ate french pastries and macarons for dinner, avoided gypsies on the Paris metro, and rode on a double decker bus (don’t sit on the top level if you get carsick).   I enjoyed London and Paris quite a lot and I am grateful for the opportunity to have experienced two new cities—but my God do I love ice cubes, excessively wide roads, toilet seat covers in public bathrooms, and the good old soul-crushing boredom of the American suburb.  It’s nice to be home.

The EuroPoos don't agree--don't they look like they had fun?

Monsieur Poo becomes automatically cultured by posing in close proximity to the Musee de Louvre.

Sir Poo enjoys the British Museum.

Monsieur Poo sunbathes in the Versailles gardens.

If you missed the live updates of the EuroPoo adventures while we were gone, fear not! You can catch up on the @KnotYoGrandma Instagram (who WOULDN'T want to miss two mustached pieces of crap posing in front of famous European monuments? Certainly not I). 

We had fun, too.  Paris really is beautiful, and the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour really is superb.  London is...like the US.  Except old.  And people advise you to "fag it in the bin" instead of "throw it in the trash."

Michael takes a stroll through Marie Antoinette's domain.

Underneath the Arc de Triomph.

It rained every day we were there...in May.

Hogwarts!

The Hogwarts Bridge!  Or at least what was left after Neville blew it up.

I am definitely excited for our next trip so that I can crochet some more European poo representatives (Señor Poo, anyone?)