Day 6: FO: Cobblestone

Dave has given me his cold, so today has been another lazy day filled with sniffling, sneezing, movie watching cat snuggling, and of course, knitting. Unfortunately, it's the Daenerys shawl I'm working on, and it's gotten to the point where it's too big for decent pictures

Fortunately, I did get the Cobblestone cowl off the needles and blocked last night. Since I'm home along until late tonight, I had to do a solo photo shoot.

When I designed this pattern back in December 2012, I was looking for a project to showcase our newly introduced Top Cat Aran. It was also going to be a Christmas gift, so I needed something that would knit up quick. It also had to meet the needs and likes of the recipient (ie:be really long).

The original took just over one skein of Top Cat Aran, and the slip stitch pattern (a modified linen stitch) showcased the hand-painted semi-solid perfectly. But I've longed to see how it would work with something busier.

When Mom gave me this skein of Codex earlier this week, I knew exactly what to make with it.

I cast on Tuesday morning and by bedtime last night, it was blocking.

Yes, it's is a very quick knit ! But that said, I have to disclose two things.

1) I am on vacation and I did almost nothing but knit yesterday.

2) I made some modifications - mainly cutting down the stitches. The original could be wrapped three times. This one can only be wrapped twice, and it's pretty snug.

I went down a couple needle sizes on this one too - mainly just because I didn't check my pattern when I started knitting. But the resulting fabric was so nice, I wasn't inclined to frog it when I discovered the error.

The Codex was an absolute delight to work with and I'd love to get more. This skein was from the now defunct Sanguine Gryphon, but it is being offered by the Verdant Gryphon, with this caveat from their website:"Our most luxurious yarn, only available as a guest base at certain times during the year. We will not be stocking as standard, seasonal, ore weekly update colourways, but look our for Codex in custom lots, special updates, clubs, and shows."

Even though I have my own dye studio, I've always admired the Gryphon's dyeing skills, and you can bet your bottom I'll be keeping my eye open for more of this.

I used almost every inch of the skein. That's another great thing about this pattern, you can just keep knitting until you run out of yarn. It's perfect for those single luxury skeins that are too precious to buy several of, but you just can't resist.(The pattern could easily be adapted to any weight of yarn too - just change your cast on and needle size to suit. I'm thinking I may make a few more of these to put away for Christmas presents for this year.)



And, as pretty as this cowl is, I'm hoping I won't get too much use out of it for a few months. The weather is slowly warming up and both Rocky and I are fervently hoping that it's here to stay.