Decided to knit mum a cowl - quick and practical. I need to use stash, so holding the two lovely Noro yarns together except for in the flower petals and centres

I will start from a prov. cast on and work “lengthwise”, so that the number of stitches actually determines the height of the cowl.

Freehand drew the flower on knitting graph paper to make up the graph. Graph is 18st x 24r, if I make the repeat 30r that will give 6 rows between the flowers. I need at least 3st each side of the graph for icord edges, plus another 3 each side of graph for spacing might be nice - 30st total. We will see how we go!

Using the beginning as a swatch.

Ok, so first try didn’t work. I was holding both yarns together for the body (garter st)then for the petals and centre of flower I was double knitting (stocking st) using one of the yarns at the back and the other at the front. It would work with different yarn, however. Probably best with more evenly spun yarn using two colours with really good contrast.

Second try still garter for the body using both yarns held together. Flower is still stocking st but using stranded technique with the centres the opposite yarn to the petals. I will alternate which yarn is used for petals and which for the centre. Again, it would probably be better using yarns that are more contrasting, but I am thinking I will do a very simple, rough, contrasting-colour embroidery around the outline of the petals and centres after blocking. Maybe running st, maybe even crochet … Maybe something else …

Hmmmmm! I meant to make more notes about the cast on b/f now - oh well! I used JMCO b/c I think it is the quickest, the easiest, the most versatile and actually ends up as two properly knitted rows. I think what I did was cast on with one yarn strand for each needle (so the Koromo on one needle and the Kibou on the other) and made sure that each needle had the total number of cast on stitches and then k2tog (one from each needle) for the first row after the cast on. The other possibility is that I might have used one strand for each needle (as above) and cast on half the number of total stitches on each needle, then simply alternated which needle I took the stitch from for the next row - I can’t remember! I haven’t done either b/f so I don’t know what they look like to sort it out (and the yarn is not easy to sort out anyway). Whatever I did, I’m really pleased with the result - definitely something to play around with in the future - and I think it should Kitchener really well …

Very close to one ball of Koromo used (see photo of remaining purple yarn) and around 53g of Kibou (just over half a ball).

I have grafted the ends together and woven in the yarn tails but I haven’t washed/blocked. I will wait until after that to decide on whether to go around the flower outlines or just leave them as flower “suggestions” with the changes in texture b/w the garter and stst and the subtle changes in colour intensity that occur when you change from using both yarns held together and only one of the yarns, then back again. I will see what Thea thinks.

5 times through the motif in total. I was very lucky in that the colour of each yarn where I finished was very similar to what they had been when I started so the graft shouldn’t be too obvious …

A very strange project - I keep wavering b/w really liking it a lot and not really liking it all … And then I keep having misgivings about whether mum will like it or not …

Post wash and block - definitely needs outlining of at least some of the flowers due to lack of contrast in the yarns causing the flower images to be obscure. I will probably go around all of them for the sake of cohesion. I’m actually really pleased with how the structure of this has worked, considering I don’t really know what I’m doing! The join has turned out particularly well - a lot like a three needle bind off. I had to point it out to Thea for her to be able to see where it is.

Thea thought it looked too big so I put it on to show her how you can just let cowls drape, or fold them or whatever even if they aren’t long enough to go around your neck twice (this one isn’t). Now she wants one …

I tried crochet on the outline but didn’t like it. Back stitch is the go. Tried bright red yarn - this looked really striking and I think it was something that people would either love or hate … I don’t think mum would be in the “love” camp, so I undid that bit. Tried with black yarn. It is very stark and unsubtle. It almost looks like I have knit the flowers separately and sewn them on. This is almost the exact opposite of how blended the flower motifs are into the background without the embroidery in place. I think it is the fact that it is such a big difference that is giving me pause for thought - I was beginning to really like the subtlety without the embroidery. After trying out another couple of yarns, I’ve decided on the black, though.