A Cowling Good Time

We had us some fun tonight at Red Purl. Lots of laughter, good times, and dog farts. (Purl was not having a good night.)

In all, 18 people came with cowls to exchange. You can see them piled up in the middle of the table (in bags).

It was a full house!! When we thought everyone had come who would come, we started the "official" games. Amy had anointed me Mistress of Ceremonies and I took it very seriously. (Naturally.)

First I rounded us up in a circle around the table (we had to stand, there were so many of us). Then we went around saying our names. Then we each had to try to say them all. Do well: get a number from the top of the pile (#1, 2, 3, etc). Do poorly and get a number from the bottom of the pile. (That would be me: #18.) Not that it mattered much, but we all liked to be ranked don't we?

Then we went in order by that number to pick out the bag you wanted from the pile. Not that it mattered much because I was just getting started...

There was one lone knitter who was not participating (but having lots of fun laughing along) and I asked her to read a left/right story that I had printed and revised (slightly) from the internet. Every time the word RIGHT is read, you pass right; and left for the word LEFT. This simple task never fails to get people laughing.

Once that was done, I checked if anyone had her own bag: only one did. So she got to pick a number out of a hat, and had to switch with the person with that bag number. Done.

Now we opened bags in order, not that it mattered much, but it was a way to know what to do next. Each was opened, exclaimed over, tried on, and declared "mine" by the recipient.

It was amazing how all the cowls were lovely and each elicited "ooohs" and "aahs" from the rest of us. They also matched what just about everyone was wearing. That was a little weird.

What did I get?

A medium length cowl made from Rowan big wool (I'm pretty sure), maybe 042 mulberry. It's a nice mauve. Not a colour I wear at all, actually, but it perfectly complemented the pink outfit I had on today. So I guess I do wear that colour family, at least. It won't go with my regular red coat, but I think it will be smashing with a long camel-coloured coat I have. Lovely!! (And I'd tell you who made it, but of course, I've forgotten her name because I am that bad with names.)

And what did I make?

It's a pattern called Pletenka by Lilia Mankki. It was received by Rose who took my heel-sock class and is also heavily renovating her house. We trade horror stories and status reports whenever we see each other. (She has one small room--the porch--that is completely done, so she is ahead of me! I am not jealous; I am happy for her.) We were encouraged to include treats with the cowl, and I added a bag of Skittles. (Get it? "Taste the Rainbow.")

When I realized that I had a rainbow of Malabrigo, I searched out a pattern to take advantage of it. This one seemed to fit the bill perfectly. It's a little awkward at times (understatement) but goes very quickly and really isn't hard.

The only change I made to the pattern was to start with three knit rows instead of jumping right into the pattern. It ended with three knit rows and I wanted the symmetry. This caused it to curl nicely on both edges. (Oh, and I did increase to 84 stitches for an adult size, as suggested by the designer.)

The pattern took approximately 15 yards of each colour. I was able to used scraps for all but the red and yellow. I had run out of those and just went ahead and bought full skeins so I could make this project. (Troy told me to! I believe his arguments was, "Really, it's not like buying Malabrigo would ever go to waste." I had no counter-argument to that and trotted off to Red Purl as soon as I could.)

The colours I used were: Ravelry Red, Glazed Carrot, Sauterne, Lettuce, Blue Surf, Hollyhock and Red Mahogany. Roy G Biv. All the scraps were from my knit-along afghan of 2009.

Project start: Jan 10 '11
Project finish: Jan 16 '11

I think I want one for myself now. Maybe with a matching hat.