ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

I have knitted 2 cowls from the chunky yarn – and sadly there was such a discrepancy in the yarn quantity that I cannot say my cowl can be created with only one 100 gram hank of the chunky yarn.

When I knitted my first cowl I loved it and so did some of you. The long colour change in this chunky yarn gives each hank a single colour repeat in a rainbow like effect, which is one reason for attempting the cowl with only one hank. When I knitted the second to test my pattern I ran out of yarn long before the planned completion of the cowl.

I then weighed the cowls and the first weighed in at 119 grams and the second cowl – weighed in at 82 grams hence the problem despite being created from 100 gram hanks of chunky yarn. I will undo the bind off on the second cowl and continue knitting with another hank, and we’ll see how the colour change works going onto that second hank.

I will also reknit the pattern with another chunky yarn with a weighed 100 grams and see how I get on with that. If that creates a gorgeous chunky cowl – then I will publish that pattern. If not then “C’est la vie”

I don’t think I should have looked in other languages – but here you go.

According to google translate in Danish the cowl is hætten, neck warmer is hals varmere, the Swedish halsmudd is a neck cuff, and so on and on.

Should I explore this? – maybe not

I have been cogitating over which words to use for this neck warmer / shoulder warmer / gaiter / cowl etc etc. I have decided to stick with “Cowl”. Why, because in this case it has a nice ring to it and the word rolls off the tongue so well.

I am quite certain; that is I am cocksure that the name of this piece should be ……

what am I talking about?

Well the “Connie Colourscape Cowl of course

And I think it is codswallop to call it a gaiter.

Anyway – it is knitted in the round. It is similar to Sean Sheep Armytage cowl. In the original cowl I started my increases close to the neck edge, in this one I knitted it without any shaping for about 14cm before beginning the increases.

It has been created with one hank of Colourscape chunky, knitted on circular needles. I am still not absolutely certain which colour it is as I left the label on the train, but still think it could be Jungle #447.

Rowan Colourscape Chunky is a roving type yarn with an artisan look and rustic appeal which is spun and made in Britain. Designed by renowned textile artist, Kaffe Fassett each hank gives a single repeat rainbow like effect. 100% Lambswool.

So you too could create a cowl like this one with only 160 m or 175 yards of a chunky yarn.

In winter 2008 I had very little yarn here with me in the Netherlands. I had purchased some odd yarns at a fleamarket and had bought some bits and pieces at local shops here in Haarlem and in Amsterdam and Maastricht.

The yarns really were just a bit odd, and I didn’t have anything in mind to make/create.

BUT I was cold.

So I played with a design and created a neck warmer for myself out of these odd yarns. I wore it on my journey to Switzerland for our sons 40th birthday in Dec 2008 and I was very grateful for this very warm item of clothing that I had created. Sadly there are no photos of it as a neck warmer though.

In Switzerland there was an Angelica.

She saw the thing (the neck warmer / my neck warmer) and became rather excited. Now Angelica speaks Spanish, German and some English so it was said with a great deal of excitement and in halting English and dramatic Spanish that she wanted to try it on. We (Best Beloved and I) speak English, a hint of Dutch, me, almost reasonable Danish and no German and NO Spanish.

Fortunately our son who speak excellent German, English and understands some dramatic Spanish – translated.

And she did try it on – only not around her neck but around her body. She was adamant this was a perfect tunic dress.

My Neck Warmer as a dress! WOW

Angelica is a very tiny lady, maybe 4’10″ in her high heels. I said I would knit some straps and send neck warmer and straps to her to attact at the correct position. Which is what I did do.

And this last Christmas 2010 I saw the result for the first time.

Just how many terms can there be for a piece to wear around the neck and shoulders – one to keep the neck warm and protected?

You know already I have posted on the wimple and then I posted on the snood – See here:

Of course I followed with the cowl pattern still to come I am sorry – and then ever so curiously I found the Gaiter(s) Now the gaiter is really tricky, given that gait means “a manner of walking” – how on earth did a cloth or leather covering for the legs and ankles become a covering for the neck?

I had not considered that there were even more terms for fashion pieces that adorn the neck and maybe the shoulders and what was posted on facebook tonight Dickey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A dickey (alternately written as dickie or dicky; sometimes known as a tuxedo front or tux front) is a type of false shirt-front – originally known as a detachable bosom – designed to be worn with a tuxedo or men’s white tie, usually attached to the collar and then tucked into the waistcoat or cummerbund. The rigid plastic dickey came into fashion in the latter years of the 19th century, and was one of the first successful commercial applications of celluloid.

So I looked up dickey on google as you do. Google images were inconclusive – and some of the pictures are not very nice. I did however find a link to a pattern for a hand knit Dickey So there you have it – a dickey pattern, but I think you could develop a dickey pattern of your own by combining a hand knit or crochet babies bib pattern with a roll collar and then you have a dickey.

But will there be even more terms for my neck warmers?

It could be a crisis working out how to label my pieces if different communities use different words for the same things – so I might have to create a new word.

Wimplesnooddickeygaiter

or

Dickeygaitersnoodwimple

or

snooddickeygaiterwimple

or

gaiterdickeysnoodwimple

or ever so simply

A neck / shoulder warmer

or maybe

“A Not Isadora Duncan Scarf”

or

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..what????