ConnieLene – KnitDesigner

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Bloke's Neck Warmer

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Now I have called this a “Bloke’s Neck Warmer” but it is a unisex piece. It just happened that my Bloke or my Best Beloved liked the neck warmer and snaffled it while we lived in the Netherlands and he loved it so much he brought it back to New Zealand with him, just cause it might be a bit cold over the winter here in our rural Miranda. Nothing like the Netherlands of course but still a wee bit cold.

My new Fibonacci neck warmer/capelet. This piece has now been increased to 610 stitches. The shape is fabulous, I hope I have a longer circular needle so I can increase to 1597 or even to 2584. I might not have sufficient yarn for 2584 stitches but will wait and see.

The yarn is Moda Vera Bouvardia, 70% acrylic, 30% wool. colour green, 104-06, lot 2

Of course he can, and my Best Beloved has this set. Hat and neck warmer in a rugged yarn (no label sorry), of a masculine kind, well a masculine colour. It is a gorgeous green with a multitude of green flecks.

The neck warmer / cowl / halsmudd or what ever you call it – sits well on the shoulders and keeps the wind and cold out of the neck area. It is great under a heavy jacket.

The shape looks a little like a ruff from the Elizabethan times (around 1560s) but I won’t tell Best Beloved that. The ruff was a fairly useless piece of frippery, used to give the laundry maids some extremely difficult work and didn’t protect the neck from anything at all.

My neck warmer is a practical piece, entirely suitable for modern living in a very cold environment and can be laundered easily.

The design is of course unisex.

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.

Angelica is a very tiny lady and this piece was created specifically for her and was intended for Christmas.

Angelica is from Chile, and is the partner of my son Morgan so this neck warmer was to be one of her Christmas presents from us.

Problem was the train to Switzerland was overcrowded. All the seats were reserved on the first train from Amsterdam which we caught because the conditions for travelling were so bad the weekend before Christmas that we couldn’t risk not getting there and so we stood from Amsterdam to Frankfurt. We were not even able to get a coffee, fortunately we had food and water with us. The journey was so difficult that I didn’t manage to finish the piece, nor did I complete it at their home in time for Christmas.

It is done now and I will give it to Morgan for Angelica when he visits Apeldorn in the Netherlands at the end of next week.

Neck Warmer in Feather and Fan stitch

The neck warmer is knitted in the round. The shoulder section is knitted in Feather and Fan stitch, the neck section (hidden) is k2 p2 rib with the folded down neck section is also in Feather and Fan. I began with a provisional cast on and knitted the rib down followed by the feather and fan stitch. I then knitted up from the rib in the reverse direction so the feather and fan would sit correctly when folded down.

I did check the sizing on Angelica while we were there with them in Switzerland – she sat with her eyes closed while we checked it out and it looked great. The colours of it look great against the beautiful colour of her skin, eyes and hair. I hope she likes it when she receives it.

If I receive a photo I shall post it here.

I am still working on the ultimate pattern as have knitted this in 8ply and in 12 ply – one with rib neck and one with Feather and fan neck. I am not sure yet which I love the best.

Neck and Shoulder Warmer / Gaiter