Free pattern: Close to me

This is what happens when you cross a small amount of Shilasdair 100% cashmere handspun yarn and a need (or rather want) for a light scarf. As I only had 68g of yarn, I couldn't make anything too big, so I started hunting for either long thin scarves, or short fat cowls. I found one or two things that I liked but didn't seem quite what I was after. The more I hunted, the clearer the picture became in my head of what I was after. I therefore made it up and it turned out perfectly (in my opinion). Please excuse the rubbish photos.



I combined the idea of a long thin scarf and a short fat cowl to create a long thin cowl that creates a cosy double loop around my neck. It's perfect for this yarn as it feels absolutely gorgeous and is so light you wouldn't know you were wearing save for the cosy feeling around your neck.



It's a really quick knit too, only 30 rows of knitting. It uses garter stitch with some very simple detail at the borders.



Gauge
Not critical

Things
I used:

• 1 68g ball of Shilasdair 100% cashmere handspun (I didn't use quite all of it)
  
• 6mm 80cm circular needle
  
• Stitch marker
  
• Sewing needle for finishing 
  

Abbreviations

• k – knit
  
• p – purl
  
• k2tog - knit two stitches together
  
• yo - yarn over 
  

Instructions

Cast on 172 stitches (or similar even number of stitches - just keep going until it looks right)
Join for knitting in the round, placing stitch marker to indicate the start of the round.

• Row 1: k all
  
• Row 2: p all
  
• Row 3: k all
  
• Row 4: p all
  

• Row 5: *k2tog, yo, repeat from *
  
• Row 6: p all
  
• Row 7: k all
  
• Row 8: p all
  

Repeat rows 5-8 one more time

• Row 13: k all
  
• Row 14: p all

Repeat rows 13 and 14 four more times (or more if you prefer a wider loop)
Then repeat rows 5-8 twice
Cast off very loosely, use a larger needle if necessary
Weave in ends

Still here and knitting

It's been longer than I thought since my last post - oops. I've been up to quite a lot over the last few months, some of it worth blogging about too!

The most important thing is that I'm knitting again and really enjoying it. I've had a bad cold for the last few weeks (will it ever end!) and knitting had been helping me through it :o)

I'm not doing as much Christmas knitting this year. Partly to give my poor relatives a break, and partly to avoid causing myself stress. I've finished one item (bar blocking) and I've got one more to go (to start actually...).

The first thing is a shawl for my Mam in bright purple angora. It feels gorgeous, like fluffy clouds. I'm very chuffed with myself as it's the first lace pattern I've ever finished. I really enjoyed knitting it and started to understand the pattern and memorise what I needed to do. I was also able to work out if I had made a mistake quite quickly. As it is quite an easy pattern, it wasn't too difficult to tink back to fix it - although having said that, there are one or two unique 'design features' in my version of the shawl ;o) It's smaller than I hoped, but hope blocking will help toward making it look better and bigger...



I'm also planning to knit a shawl for my boyfriends Mam, hopefully I've got time. And then I want to knit a lace scarf/stole for my auntie but that will be after Christmas perhaps for her birthday at the end of January.

I've also made a cardie for a friends little girl:



A little tree decoration for a Secret Santa swap on Ravelry:



In October we went on holiday for a week. We so needed a holiday. We went to Skye, and although it was a very long drive, it was so very worth it. I'd not been to Skye before and I loved it! We rented a lovely little cottage near the sea with fabulous views over the hillsides beyond. It was cold and quite wet, but we went out on days that we could, only two days were too stormy for us not to want to leave the house. On those days we curled up in front of the roaring fire, and I knit or read as I fancied. Wonderful!

I visited two yarn shops while I was there and spent far more than I should have on yarn. I went to the Handspinner Having Fun, as well as the famous Shilasdair. At the latter I bought a few odd skeins, one for my Secret Santa swap and two purple yarn for me - one was their 100% cashmere. I thought it would be good for some fingerless mitts, but decided to make a cowl instead. After looking for a pattern that I liked for while, I decided to make something up myself. So I did and I love it, it worked out very well. I might post the instructions at some point.



Well, I'm fairly sure I had more to write about but it'll keep. My head hurts. Between starting and finishing this post the shopping arrived - yes, I got ASDA to deliver and I'm very disappointed in myself (they use FAR too many bags and I always end up buying the wrong things, or not being able to find what I want and just giving up) but neither of us are feeling well so we gave in. We've got my boyfriends two boys this weekend and they were being very helpful carrying the bags to the kitchen and helping me unpack until one of them dropped a big jar of passatta and it smashed covering the kitchen floor in a thick layer of glass and sieved tomatoes. Joy. My other half had popped to the shops so I had to deal with it myself. Took a while but I did it, without any harm to bare footed boys too! My head is a different matter entirely...