Friday, December 5, 2014

A Churchmouse Cowl and how can it be December already??


I must be living in some kind of time/space warp, I can't believe it is December 5 already!! I am really  enjoying reading all my fellow blogger's Christmas gift making and decorating. What an awesome bunch! Sadly I haven't quite got my groove on with my own Christmas preparations but I am sure soon I will launch into high gear. Okay maybe not so high but at least get the ball rolling!  When our kids were younger and we had a lot more family around I was pretty organized and super busy. Now I am more of a multi-slacker. Times change and that's perfectly okay.

 


 I knit this cowl recently. Love it ! I thought this would be a great quick (ish) knit for some of you who want to knock off another gift, or better yet, make one for yourself!!


This is The Inside Outside Churchmouse Cowl. It is a great straightforward knit. I started with a provisional cast on-I use a crochet cast on with waste yarn. Then I knit approximately 8 inches with Shibui Stocatto-a fingering weight yarn in Tar. I then started knitting my stripe sequence with two strands of Kidsilk Haze Eclipse in  Aquarius alternately with Shibui Silk Cloud in Raspberry. When the stripey part was the same length as the plain part I grafted the two edges together. Grafting with the mohair was okay, you just need a lot of good light and a big dose of patience. If you are not a fan of the graft., a three needle bind off would work just dandy. It is amazing to me that this cowl just folds nicely on the rounds where I changed yarns.
 My cowl is so nice to wear with a coat or atop a sweater. It is super soft and just drapes nicely. This is a great stash buster project and a great way to use up left over sock yarn. You could have a lot of fun with this pattern!



My squashapalazoo continues. Today I made a butternut squash apple soup. This time instead of making a curried soup I made a warm spicy one. I used ginger and pumpkin pie spice to flavour it . It tastes great but it tastes even better if you add a couple of glugs of maple syrup. Yum! The house smells awesome!!

I was recently nominated by two awesome bloggers for the Leibster  Blog Award  by the lovely
Gillian of Hookinayarn   and the equally lovely Geraldine of Wool and Cats. I was super surprised and a little bit gobsmacked on this one. Thank you both ever so much!! I will respond to this soon. I am an incredibly slow blogger, I can graft  or turn a heel a lot easier and faster than formulating a blog post!

Welcome to my new follower Karen.Thank you for joining me . Karen is a friend of Isobel's too. Both are such lovely fun women! Thank you all for your kind comments, it is always nice to hear from you!

This weekend I am on wisdom teeth nursing duty. About 10 days ago our daughter developed an abcessed wisdom tooth. The plan was to have them all removed on Dec 22. Excellent timing!!. After a visit to the dentist yesterday she was told they have to come out asap and were taken out this morning. Ouchie wow wow!!! I remembered when I had mine out a long long time ago. Just plain nasty.





Winter is upon us!

Keep warm friends!

Keep smiling!

Chris

17 comments:

  1. The cowl is so beautiful and you make it sound much easier to make than it looks. Now I want to make that! Hope you continue to have a relaxed pace this Season, I am tired already and it is only December 6.
    Hugs,
    Meredith

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  2. Oh your cowl is so well done and beautiful !!!! Impressive ! Time flies before Christmas .... I'm so busy !!! Good luck for you crafts ! Have a lovely week end !

    http://woolandcats.blogspot.fr/

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    1. Thanks Geraldine, I sure like wearing cowls. This was an easy pattern, it's the yarns that make it so pretty! Time does fly before Christmas and I see you are knitting like a fiend too !!have a great week

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  3. I am all about the cowls now, I like wearing them a lot. Just pop it over your head and you are good to go! This would be a great project for NEXT year.Try to take some time and put up your feet for a bit this month, keep well my friend!

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    1. What's going with this reply button, this was supposed to go under Merediths comment. Hmmmfff prob operator error!

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  4. I hope that your daughter is OK and will be recovered very soon - at least it was a bit further back from Christmas is the silver lining! I love your cowl, and that photo of the ice is just amazing isn't it!! I hope that you have a good week. xx

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    1. Thank you so much Amy! She is starting to feel almost human again and is looking forward to being able to eat some real chewy food soon. Hope you have a good week too!!

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  5. Love your cowl - looks so soft and cosy.

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  6. It is! I am dreaming up more colour combinations now!

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  7. I'm slow enough responding to this that hopefully your daughter has completely recovered from the extractions because 'all out' does sound very ouchy!

    Love the cowl.

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  8. That soup looks so good! I need to make more during the winter months! Hope you and your family are well! Happy holidays, Diane

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    1. Hey Diane! I sure make a lot of soup in the winter, I love it for dinner! And I love it when I make a bit pot and don't have to cook for a day or two. Happy Holidays to you!

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  9. Hey pal!!! I am so sorry I missed this post!!!! Been thinking about you!!! I have been on and off again sick for the past few weeks and I am just starting to get my mojo back! Your cowl is outstanding and I love the colors you used! And you deserve to earn that Leibster award as you have amazing talents!!! I do hope your daughter is feeling better. And I hope that you have a wonderful and festive weekend!! Nicole xoxo

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    1. Nicole!! I am sorry you have been sick again, it's hard to stay healthy with little kids . They are building up their immunities and yours too! Thanks for the vote of confidence I just have to sit down and think of some intelligent answers for that Leibster Award...could take awhile. Have a fun week !

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  10. That cowl is gorgeous! When I wore the scarf you sent me I received so many compliments. :o) One woman had me take if off so she could figure out how it was made. My hyper intelligent answer of 'I dunno' apparently wasn't good enough. That soup looks fab. Congrats on your award. Well deserved!!

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  11. Thanks and I am very happy to hear your scarf is going over so well. I still think the colour name Esmeralda suits you to a tee! I love your I dunno response. I am going to post some pics and the pattern for it, it's potato chip knitting at its best! You can say, oh this little thing , I whipped it up last night and I made up the pattern myself while I was half asleep ! Knitters are a pretty snoopy bunch I must admit though! I have zoomed in on some hand knits worn by people I didn't know ( I think those are strangers Chris) , I try not to alarm people unnecessarily!!

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