I don’t knit cowls very often, but I recently finished one. This yarn and pattern was my subscriber gift from Rowan – the pattern is called Prospero and the yarn is Alpaca Merino DK (those are both Ravelry links). The colourwas is Hoby, which is a heathered pink. The yarn is discontinued but I chose it as my gift because I was curious about it. It has a chainette construction. I’d never knitted a yarn like this before. Here’s a close-up of the yarn:

What’s interesting is that the yarn was so hard to photograph. I guess it’s so fine that the camera wanted to focus on the background instead, as if the yarn wasn’t even there. You can see the construction of it, though. It’s very airy and can be twisted to just about nothing.

Prospero is a garter stitch scarf grafted into a loop which doesn’t make it the most exciting knit ever. On the other hand, a plain knit like this is an opportunity to be mindful as you work. I had to knit carefully to avoid splitting the yarn – I used really blunt needles, but still had to keep an eye on it. It wasn’t good tv knitting, so I had to make an hour here or there, just to work on it. I made Russian joins where I switched balls, and that worked beautifully to hide the ends. Because the yarn is so open, it doesn’t look any different where it’s doubled over.

I didn’t get anything close to gauge in the length, so I used four balls instead of the two specified in the pattern. The finished cowl is supposed to be 29″ but mine is about 35″. Longer is better when it comes to scarves, IMO, and once I was into the fourth ball, I decided to just use it up. Here it is, finished but not blocked:

My graft looks good from the right side, although I had a hard time ensuring that the tension was consistent, so it looks a little less good on the back.  And yes, I made one mistake in the graft, but by the time I saw it, I wasn’t going to rip back to fix it.

I like the fabric from the yarn a lot. It feels light and squishy, and the heathered colour makes it more interesting. This photo is pretty accurate in terms of colour. The finished cowl is a continuous loop of squishy softness. I suspect I’ll wear this a lot this winter.

In fact, I liked it enough that I ordered some more of this yarn before it disappears forever. I’m going to knit Ewden, a pullover designed with this yarn, in the same pink colour. I just love the cable detail on this sweater, which was designed by Sarah Hatton.

What do you think?