Finished object: Castilleja Cowl | Spud & Chloe Sweater

Castilleja Cowl knit in Spud & Chloe Sweater.

It's been school holidays here and I have been busy with the kids every day so far.  I have had little knitting time and the blog has been a bit neglected. But today I've managed to get some rest time out of the kids and so it's blog time.

Throughout June I was working between 4 projects and just casually switching between them depending on what I felt like working on at the moment. I've been plodding through my Maeve Shrug and also cast on at the beginning of the month for the Skein podcast shawl KAL. I had also been slowly working on a mini version of the Moto Vest for my girl and an anniversary present for the husband. Between these projects I was starting to feel a little unmotivated since I wasn't getting anywhere near finishing any of them. 

I love the cosiness of a cowl in winter.

Then my little guy got invited to a kinder friend's birthday party and we only had a week's notice. I don't enjoy taking the kids to the shopping centre these days so I decided to knit the little girl something. I figured a quick gift knit might help me get my knitting mojo back.

Sir S choose some yarn out of my stash and we found an easy (and free) cowl pattern  off Ravelry called the Castilleja Cowl. It calls for a worsted weight yarn and I used some grape coloured Spud & Chloe sweater yarn. The yarn is beautifully soft and squishy with a wool and organic cotton composition. 

Simple details kept this knit interesting.

I knit this up in two days and I'm quite pleased with the results. The cowl design has regular elongated stitches set within reverse stockinette stitch and is bordered by fisherman's rib sections. There was just enough variation in it to keep it an interesting knit. 

The pattern is well written with easy to follow instructions and if a bigger cowl is desired it can be adapted without too much difficulty. The pattern needs a multiple of 6 stitches cast on and a wider cowl can be achieved with more repeats of the pattern.

I hope the birthday girl will enjoy the cowl as the cold weather sets in. I guess even though I had wanted to reevaluate my gift making I can't help myself; making gifts still feels better to me than buying.