Details
Pattern:
Litmus Cowl by Amy Florence (Stranded Dyeworks)
Yarn:
2020 Advent Yarn in DK with contrast grey skein from Cookston Crafts
Cost:
Pattern: Free
Yarn: My main Christmas gift from my husband.
Total (excluding labour) Free! well not strictly true but this could easily be made with leftovers but I loved opening the windows each day.
Timeline:
Started – 29th January 2021
Finished – 12th February 2021
Pattern summary
The pattern is written for 4ply/fingering weight yarn but I wanted a warmer version using the DK yarn. It calls for 24 x 5g balls plus a full skein of contrast colour. I used 21 x 10g balls plus a full contrast skein.
I did no maths about how much to knit of the grey, which was an error. I cast on 82 stitches and knit 13 rows of each colour and 8 rows of grey. (I think if I had knit 6 rows of grey I could have used all the minis.) I used 4mm needles and I wonder if size 4.5mm may give better drape but it’s nice and warm.
It uses a provisional cast on and then you do a kitchener stitch to graft the ends together. It is very addictive knitting stripes.
For the kitchener stitch I popped markers every 10 stitches. After a couple of sections I wondered if you could do the “Knit off and purl on” as one movement with the sewing needle and not only did it work it gave me the neatest finish I have had. I did the same on the “Purl off and knit on”.
Overall an easy and enjoyable pattern and a great way to show off those minis.
Yarn Summary
This is a wonderful advent set from Claire at Cookston Crafts. They were on a Scottish theme and I love them.
I am detailing the colours again in case anyone with the same advent comes across this post.
Colours I used:
Forth Bridge
Highland Coo
Ginger
Smoked Salmon
Dram
Gorse
Cairngorm
Nessy
Eilean Donan
West Coast
Neep
Kelpie
Cliffside
Saltire
Dreich
North Sea
Heather Glen
Thistle
Wild Raspberry
I used Greyfriars Bobby and Seal for 3 of the grey panels, as I’d run out of the contrast grey. I didn’t have space to use Cranachan, Midgie or Scottish Suntan.
I must admit I will probably wear Gorse and Ginger at the back of my neck (I’m not a big fan of yellow or orange) but to be honest it looks great any way round I think. The colours tone really well together.
HighlandHeffalump 
It turned out fantastic. Hey, thanks for the tidbit about the how you did the Kitchener stitch. I am going to try that on the socks I am working on.
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It is beautiful. I love how it turned out.
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Like Sarah says, Beautiful. You really played up the colors by alternating with grey.
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Really lovely! It is so bright, and really looks cozy 🙂
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I love how it looks like a totally different cowl depending on which colors are in front. I hope mine will have a similar effect. Yours is beautiful!
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Thanks, yours is going to be beautiful too, it already is.
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So much fun! I love the way this turned out. You can wear it with everything.
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Exactly, I have had it on all day with a real cardigan, yesterday with a red jumper, its cosy in the house and ideal as I’m putting my hair up now as it has got too long for me to cope.
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Dreamy! I get what you mean about hair. Mine is long now and I tend to just put it up in a bun, but my neck does feel the chill more.
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Oh this is just gorgeous!
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[…] finished Litmus Cowl on Friday and have done a detailed post. You will see I managed to do the same width of grey stripes by using 2 grey shades of the minis […]
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It really is very lovely!
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It’s so cozy!
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[…] Litmus cowl by Amy Florence (2020 advent yarn) ✅ Started week 31 finished week 33 (detailed […]
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[…] Litmus cowl by Amy Florence (Cookston Crafts 2020 advent yarn) ✅ week 33 (detailed post) Mine is a DK version so it is much more practical for our cold days, I can see me […]
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