Zig cowl variation #1

As many households are slowly recovering from this weekend's festivities, we are back into our routine, looking forward to a few upcoming trips, trying to finalize our New Year's plans, and I'm starting to really get into the Holiday spirit. This Holiday weekend we avoided the large meals (mostly), the crowds, the shopping, and instead hung out at home like we rarely do, cooked some simple meals, played with the dogs and watched movies. It was the perfect balance of being social and staying in our pj's until late, of exercising and relaxing, and I have to say, it feels pretty great. It's hard for me to get excited for two Holidays that come so close together, especially since we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving already, so I've decided that Christmas should get all my attention. I think that it's seeing snow on the ground on Friday that did it for me. I got excited like a kid at Christmas, loudly expressing my joy to a very sleepy Graham, and putting on my warmest coat and handmade knits to go walk outside. Graham never understands how I can get so happy and enthusiastic with the snow, when I'm pretty much cold 10 months out of the year. I have to admit I'm not sure what it is, and I definitely never loved winter growing up. Maybe it's the knowledge that snow is so ephemeral here, that the mountains will soon await, with winter kept a safe distance away, or that we will soon be in winter wonderland, going home for Christmas. Either way, I'm happy, or at least was until Noodle pulled on his leash on a thin patch of ice, and I almost fell over. Insert your favourite cartoon character dancing with his legs up in the air here.

A while back, a friend sent me a link to this great pattern, and told me that Rio, by Tahki Yarns, a thick and thin yarn was on sale at our favourite yarn store, for half off. Unfortunately, the reason was that it was getting discontinued. Fortunately, it seemed like too good of a deal to pass on, so I headed there, and purchased many, many skeins. See, buying some grey, green and blue seemed easier than making a decision, and I wasn't sure how much I would need, so the more the merrier. And yes, I see how this is kind of a problem. I'm working on it. Maybe.

The yarn is soft and the weight change makes it very interesting, going from fingering to bulky in a somewhat random fashion. I started on the pattern and like she did, decided to skip the halfway change, enjoying the simple diagonal line, made richer by the changing yarn weight. I used US 8 needles instead of 11, wanting a tighter, warmer feel, and casted on 96 stitches. I repeated rows 1-12 only, 4.5 times, and used just under 2 skeins of Rio.

I gave this single loop cowl to my beautiful friend Marija, because the colour just suits her so perfectly. It looks absolutely gorgeous on her, with her dark curls and European chic. Now is the time of year to set aside personal projects, and hurry up getting through the Holiday gift to-do list. Which I swore last year to start in October. Right. There is always next year for being early, right?

Photo credit Heather Hands