I’ve left many details here, but please visit my blog for a more fun way to read them. ;)

December 12, 2013: I stopped weaving at 50 rows, which is the number of stitches I would have cast-on in hindsight. You can see from my pictures that it is still very long!

I decided to fold it under for extra warmth. If you hate weaving in ends, you’ll love this mod! I used evenly spaced ends to tack down the fold, and then just tucked all the rest of the ends in the fold. Dayana 1, Ends, 0.

The folded edge means that turning the cowl upside down gives a different effect, if you like it. And… hell, it can even be a funny hat. :)

December 9, 2013: After starting weaving I have many notes and tips for you:

WEAVING WARNING: Be extremely careful when weaving to keep the correct tension. While the cowl may fit over your head before weaving, it may not after! The challenge is to weave tight enough so that the yarn isn’t slack, but loose enough to give the fabric some give. I suspect this will cause a lot of trouble for people.

WEAVING HELP: It’s not easy to find the first row for weaving. To help myself I used locking stitch markers to count every 10 rows (see photo). This was extremely helpful to keep me on track and following the right column. (The first row will be a bit weird, as there are no obvious purl bumps because it is the edge. Just pick a loop to weave into and be consistent the whole way through.)

Also, you don’t need to use a new piece of yarn for every weave. At the end of a row (after deciding the right tension), I just made a small knot around a garter bump inside and kept going to the next row.

MOD 1: There are 24 rows between every repeat. If you want the graft to be exactly 24 rows you actually need to knit 15 rows of C1 for the last repeat, not 19 rows. This gives you 23 rows total (8 in the first repeat + 15 at the end), making the grafting row the final 24th row. If you want a wider cowl but want to keep it symmetrical, add 2 or 4 C1 rows at the end of each main repeat and then finish with 17 or 19 rows, respectively.

MOD 2, THAT I DIDN’T DO AND WISH I HAD: Cast-on 50 sts, not 74! This cowl is waaaay too long. It scrunches up a ton (just like in the worn photo), and the beautiful weaving is lost in the folds. I will not even be weaving the last 2/3 of the cowl as I will have to fold it under to 1) show off the weaving, and 2) be comfortable wearing it.

GRAFTING: Make sure that when you graft you have either purl rows facing you on both needles or knit rows. I did not do the instruction to knit 3 rows in scrap yarn before starting with the real yarn. I did a crochet provisional cast-on and picked up the loops in C1 right away. Doing this with the 15 C1 row mod at the end left me in exactly the position I needed with purl rows facing me on each needle for the graft (see photo). Make sure to graft by making knit stitches on both needles. That is: Pass 1 = purl, Pass 2 = knit; for both needles.

As for looks… this thing is gorgeous! I ran out of the red, am using scraps from a different dye lot, might have to improvise towards the end. I decided to go sparkly with C5, the color that barely gets used… love it!

December 5, 2013: Loved the thought of stash busting and playing with color in this cowl. I’ve got a gigantic weaving needle from an old 70s knitted skirt kit that I’ve never used but always kept just in case…

Color 5 is still a mystery, but you don’t need to pick it until the end!