Swap 2014!

I know, I know. My postings are becoming sporadic at best. I have been too busy knitting and planning a wedding to write to you, dear readers. 

But fear not, I am back and ready to fill you in on my winter knitting escapades. It's been a productive winter, and I have (mostly) stuck to my 2014 yarn diet. This means I'm knitting from my delicious stash, making room for new treats come next year.

I'll update you in a series of posts...this one being dedicated to my recent group swap!

As most of you know, I am part of a little knitter's group. We meet up bi-weekly at a local Starbucks and bring our knitting gear with us. What started out as a small group of 3-5 women quickly grew to almost 10 ladies! We're taking over Starbucks, and getting quite a bit of attention while there. Last year was the inaugural year of our Swap - making something and gifting another group member with a hand-knit item, yarn and a pattern. This year I got the ninja-Knitter as my partner, and needless to say, was terrified.

This woman makes lace shawls and sweater knitting look like child's play. She creates the most incredible items in such record time that I was very frightened to make something for her. I'm a bit of a slow knitter since I still consider myself a novice. I quickly began searching her Ravelry favourites, library, queue and projects. I began to understand that she likes neutrals (well, gray in particular) and she likes scarves.

Since I am Little Miss Cowl Co, I settled on a pretty cabled cowl (the pattern is free on Ravelry, and accurately called "Cable Cowl"). I used Abuelita "Thick & Thin" in a lovely variegated gray. Although the yarn doesn't have as much drape as the yarn suggested, the structure of it gave incredible detail to the cablework.

Cable Cowl - in construction

I sewed the ends together as I forgot to include button holes when finishing. It turned out lovely and I'm seriously contemplating making myself one too!

Modelling the Cable Cowl on a cold Sunday evening

I included an extra ball of the same yarn, a sock-knitting book and some bath salts. Knitting-Ninja partner has a toddler at home, so the bath salts should come in handy for some relaxing evenings when baby boy is sleeping.

We coordinate our swap with Chinese New Years, and this year we went for Thai at a local restaurant. We decided to skip the yarn crawl for a later month, hopefully when the snow has gone away.

The fellow knitter who had me was awesome. She's the type of person who does not let on as to how amazing of a knitter she is - so she is always surprising us with her knit items. I got such an awesome swap package filled with goodies that were quickly devoured. 

(from Left to Right) Chocolates, Knit slouchy hat, Cascade Magnum in a gorgeous purple, and Wedding themed Thank You cards.

So I should mention the chocolates are gone. They were gone in an instant actually - and worth every calorie. The hat is incredible and the picture does not do justice. The middle stockingnette stitch area is an ombre-effect colourway, and the hat has such a gorgeous drape. Of course, I'm known for my love of bulky yarn (instant gratification yarn as I like to call it). I already have a cowl pattern in queue for this. The lovebird wedding thank-you cards are perfect as me and soon-to-be Mr. Cowl Co!

All in all, I come to look forward to our swaps more and more every year! I love that I challenge myself with new and sometimes difficult knitting patterns (insert Kitchener Stitch) and gift someone who really does appreciate knit items with something made totally from the heart. 

Happy knitting, friends! Hope this dreadful winter has brought about lots of knitting joy for you all!

Love, 

Little Miss Cowl Co.