Springtime Retreat

I’m a little tardy getting my weekend post up because I ran away from home yesterday. Well, not really. I’m writing you from lovely New Jersey at Jan’s house. Had quite the travel adventures getting here, but eventually it all worked out. Of course that means I arrived at Jan’s door at 2 a.m. today.

As you all know, Jan and I love to get together and crochet, so this is sort of our own little springtime retreat. Jan took time off from work and the 2 of us will be hanging out with hooks and yarn. We are also going to do a few fun day trips, heading into NYC to visit MoMA on Monday and maybe will get to see some of our NY friends while there.

The later part of next week is predicted to be fairly rainy, so we will be kicking back with some crochet projects and enjoying each other’s company. Of my 2 suitcases I checked, one is filled with crochet projects and yarn, so I’m all set.

In the meantime, I finished my experiments with the Classic Elite Yarn’s “Santorini” yarn. It did grow up to become a cowl, but I changed the width of my fabric in order to get a bit more length from the 2 balls of yarn I had. I like the look of the finished project and it is a nice size for a little added warmth in transitional weather.

I wore it when traveling yesterday and it was handy at 1 a.m. waiting outdoors for the car service to pick me up. On the plane and in the airport I wore the cowl as an infinity scarf and when I needed warmth I doubled it.

For those of you that would like to try out this design I have a pattern for you.

Springtime Cowl

Skill – Beginner

Stitches you need to know: Chain (ch), Double Crochet (dc), Single Crochet (sc)

Finished size: Approximately 5” wide x 38” around

Special Stitches

Materials

Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns “Santorini”; 58% Vicose/42% Cotton, 50 grams/125 yards. (sample was made with 2 balls of color #2156)

Hook: I-9/5.5mm

4 stitch markers; 2 in each color

Blunt yarn needle

Gauge:

15 rows and 16 stitches in pattern = 4”

Pattern Notes

First row is worked in the back bump or “bar” of each chain st so that base of row will be Vs like the top of stitches.

When reach the last row fasten off with a long tail, this tail will be used to sew the final row stitches to the base of the first row of stitches.

Twisting the strip of fabric 180 degrees turns your project into a moebius, if you want you can skip the twist and just sew the ends together to create a ring. Another option is to weave in the ends and make your strip of fabric into a short scarf.

Project used almost all the yarn in the balls, so if you don’t get gauge you may need to shorten your foundation or the number of rows you work.

Instructions

Row 1: Ch 21, working in back bumps, sc in 2^nd ch from hook, (dc next st, sc next st) 9 times, dc in last ch. (10 sc, 10 dc)

Row 2: Ch 1, turn, sc in first st, (dc next st, sc next st) 9 times, dc in last st. (10 sc, 10 dc)

Rows 3 – 138: Repeat Row 2. Fasten off with long tail.

Lay out strip of fabric horizontally and mark top corners with one color of stitch marker, then mark bottom corners with other color of stitch marker.