A Dark Cowl and a Flighty Hat

Today was a trying day. I was in a middle school social studies classroom and the kids were climbing the walls all day. Little jerks. Towards the end of the day (when I was good and frazzled from the difficult day I'd been having) I made a kid throw away his paper football. His response to this was to say, "It's called paper you know. I can make another one." I think all the blood in my body rushed to my head and my vision started going all wonky. I was SO angry! I completely broke my promise to myself not to let a child get to me.

My response was to get catty and say "It's called a referral you know. I can write you one." Then I did. Not my proudest moment as an semi-educator. Oh well. All I can do is live to try and do better next time.

I have two more projects today to blog about, as promised yesterday. First up is my Darkside Cowl.

Pattern: Darkside Cowl by Sarah Fama
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Harbor
Mods: The pattern offers a choice of using size 7 or 8 circs. I used size 7.

I am ridiculously happy with this little cowl. The stitch pattern is brilliant. It's a nice and stretchy rib, but with much more visual interest than plain ribbing. It was a fast knit and the size of it is perfect. It fits snugly around my neck without choking me and has enough stretch to go over my head comfortably.

The Shine Worsted was a good choice for this project. It's a cotton and modal blend. The modal (which is some kind of fiber from wood) gives the cotton some stretch and makes it much easier on the hands to knit with than plain cotton. It's buttery soft and doesn't itch at all, which is really important in a neck accessory.

Next I have my Butterfly Hat. Finally, a chance to try Madelinetosh Tosh Merino!

Pattern: Butterfly Hat by Sofiya Cremin
Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino in Victorian Gothic
Mods: I did an extra repeat of rows 1-20 in the body of the hat to accommodate my five-head.

This is a neat little hat pattern. It would have come out a too small if I made it exactly as the pattern instructs. Adding in an extra 20 row repeat made it a tiny bit too big, but I like that in hats. My ears really hurt when it gets cold outside for some reason, so I like hats that cover them up. The pattern would probably have shown up better if I used a solid color yarn, but I was in love with this colorway, and I think it still looks great! I love patterns that look nubbly and bumpy, and this fits the bill!

I was really excited to try Madtosh Merino, because it's essentially another Malabrigo, which I love. When I saw this colorway on Eat Sleep Knit, I knew I had to order it. It doesn't photograph so well for some reason. In real life it's a mix of purple, black and brown. It is much richer in tone than the pictures suggest. I have another skein of this and I plan to make some fingerless gloves to match when I get the chance.

After knitting this hat with the Madtosh, I can safely say that this is pretty much exactly like Malabrigo. The only difference I noticed was how smelly this yarn was. My skeins absolutely reek of vinegar. It actually kind of turned my stomach. Once it aired out a bit it wasn't so bad and I'm sure that washing the hat will help it even more, but phew! It stunk! My husband even noticed the smell, and he has the weakest sense of smell I've ever seen in a human (sorry honey!). The smell wasn't enough to discourage me from buying this yarn again in the future. The colorways are too pretty!

Tomorrow I will have my final FO for September up. I've saved the best for last. That's right, my Damson will finally materialize!