Stained Glass Cowl Knit Along

Denise, from over at Just Quiltin’, and I were talking about how much we’re looking forward to doing the Stained Glass Cowl.  

Stained Glass Cowl

We thought it might be fun to do a Knit Along on our respective blogs and we decided that with all our summers being so busy, we will start the KAL on September 1, 2016. That gives us all plenty of time to think about yarn choices. Denise and I will both have blog posts over the next few months about yarn choices so keep up with both our blogs if you’re interested in knitting along with us. Choosing a yarn will be fun and the colors we all choose will result in totally different and totally gorgeous finished cowls. Since the pattern requires about 1,000 yards of solid and about 800 yards of the long color changing yarn or even a gradient, most of us probably won’t have that in our stashes. The Wollmeise yarn works great and since it’s over 500 yards per skein, two skeins of solid and two skins of the multi colored yarn. I have no idea if The Loopy Ewe will be getting more Wollmeise in before September 1 . . my guess is they will but I’m not guaranteeing that. But Denise and I will have several posts about choosing yarns and what we’re thinking about using so stick with us.

Things you need to know:

1. You will need to buy your pattern. It’s $5 USD at Ravelry. You can go to the pattern page (click on link near top of this blog post) and read all about the materials needed so you know in advance if it’s something you want to do.
2. You will knit at your own speed. There are no deadlines or finish dates. We do ask that everyone hold off and cast on together on or shortly after September 1. Of course, the chatter and our updates will take place probably over the course of a month or two and then we’ll not be discussing it much.
3. The pattern is charted, it is fair isle and there is a provisional cast on. I’m not very experienced at fair isle and I think this looks do-able. If you aren’t familiar with provisional cast on, there are wonderful videos and instructions online. It’s a technique that I really enjoy. Charts .. not so much but they’re a part of knitting so I do them .. and you can too!
4. The bind off is either grafting (kitchener) or 3 needle bind off. If you’re not familiar with those, again  . . there are lots of videos out there. I’ll probably use the kitchener stitch because I fear dropping stitches with the 3 needle bind off (it’s what we used with Hitofude).
5. There will be prizes and you will have to have a Ravelry account in order to claim your prize. The accounts are free and Ravelry is such a great resource for knitters. If you do not have a Ravelry account, you can go there and create your free account.

The designer states on the Ravelry pattern page:  “The pattern is written in detail, with links to demos of techniques needed, and the colorwork is charted in large easy-to-read charts.”

I’m thinking we can all do this, even if you’re feeling not so experienced . . just jump in and do it with us. The best part for me . . it’s all done in the round and there’s only a tiny bit of purling!

OK . . who’s in? Who’s thinking about it? You know you’re going to wish you had done it with us if you don’t do it with us!