Spring Caffeine Addicts Swap 2013

Well, darlings. The time has come again! Swap time!!

I have made it a tradition to participate in the "Caffeine Addicts" spring and fall swaps (as you can tell from previous posts).

This year my swap buddy is from New Mexico...so I was anticipating some cool things - and boy did she deliver!

swap package all wrapped up

Starbucks tumbler, Dunkin' Donuts coffee (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), knit flower pin, hand-knit makeup bag (from my Ravelry favorite's list), terracotta candle, chili chocolate (which is lingering on my taste buds as I type), Desert Sun NM roasted coffee, and finally a dangerously small (but most likely powerful) tin of fire-roasted diced green chili peppers.

I am so excited to try it all - and so thankful! This was such a super swap package, I couldn't be more grateful.

For a little hint of what she got in return:

Chai tea, Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman, City of Vaughan magazine, Lavazza coffee (my personal favorite), friendship blueberry tea, Mustard Scarf, Headband (knit in handspun and kettle-dyed wool), maple sugar cookies, and some green tea candies.

I had such a great time participating in this swap!

Until next time,

Little Miss Cowl Co.

Dreaming of Pantone Contest Winner!

Good morning, Dear Followers!

I'm writing with wonderful news - The Little Cowl Co's first contest winner!

Congratulations to Hollie Schroeder! You have won a City Cowl in your Pantone colour choice "Tender Shoots 14-0446"!

I used www.random.org to have a colour selected - and I think it's a great choice! Since the cowl is made with natural material, it will be a great addition to your spring wardrobe without feeling too wintery!

To all other followers, make sure you add the blog to your favorites and stay tuned for more news, updates, patterns, contests and knitting adventures!

Until next time,

Little Miss Cowl Co.

The Never Ending Scarf

I should start this post off with a disclaimer: I am usually not an angry knitter. Knitting is fun - sometimes frustrating - but mostly relaxing. Getting into a rhythm of a pattern, seeing your work unfold, is truly spectacular.

Unless, of course, you are working on something that you have developed an incredible and insurmountable hatred for. This brings me to one of my current projects - my boyfriend's belated Christmas-present scarf.

This whole project started out badly - and I should have taken it as a knitting-omen. I loved the pattern "New York Scarf". It looked like a simple ribbed scarf. Very masculine depending on the colour and material choice.

I settled on Illimani Yarn in Baby Alpaca. I chose an interesting shade of brownish grey - and wound it into cakes the minute I got home. I began to notice that the yarn was quite thin for a worsted weight, but dismissed the thought. I grabbed my US size 6 needles (which is what the pattern called for) and cast on the 35 stitches. I worked about an inch before I frogged because the stitches were too loose for my liking. Ok, lets start round two.

I went down to a US size 4 and cast on 55 stitches - worked an inch and found it to be too tightly knit. God forbid I do a gauge swatch - Heaven forbid! It's a ribbed scarf, what do I need a gauge swatch for?! So I frog the blasted scarf for the second time, and throw the yarn in my project bag. The next day I head to knit night, and realize I have yarn and no needles. I run over to Michaels (since it was around 7pm and I knew any decent LYS would be closed) and pick up a pair of US 5 circular needles. This should work.

I cast on 55 stitches again, and work the pattern up and begin to like what I see. I, the Goldilocks of scarves, am finally satisfied. Except that I hate these needles. The cable is so stiff and has so much memory it is almost impossible to work with. Did I mention that I hate the pattern as well?! The rib is worked up in a K2 P3 on one row and K3 P2 on the second row. This is not normal. Why couldn't it be K2P2 or K3P3 over an even amount of stitches??

Needless to say, the scarf was not complete by my Christmas drop-dead date.

I open up my Christmas gifts and behold! Knit Picks Harmony Interchangeable Needles!!!! I quickly prep the US size 5 and begin knitting the scarf on these new needles. LOVE. I am working quickly, with my mojo primarily coming from the new found joy of gorgeous needles.

This quickly dies, however, as my hatred for this pattern and yarn come back. I knit with the sole motivation of hatred, thinking the faster I knit, the faster I finish. I come to the end of one yarn cake, and quickly have to wind the next one before I lose this motivation.

***insert tangle in yarn***

I want to throw this scarf out the window and drive over it. I want to give it to my boyfriend and tell him to suck it up and wear a short scarf. But no, I love him too much, and take too much pride in my knitting and frankly, am too stubborn to let the scarf win.  I spend the better part of a sunny Saturday untangling my yarn and winding it nicely. I join the new yarn with the end of the last cake, and on I go again.

Then I get bored, go on Ravelry and decide to cast on something else because it's just not fair to me to hate what I knit.

I abandon the scarf, and tend to only take it out when my boyfriend is around. This way, it looks like I spend a lot of time knitting it. I begin to feel guilty, and decide to finish this scarf once and for all. It's been four months since I started and it's just not right.

I have been working on it all week, and decide to bring it to my knit night last night. Everyone (including myself) laughs at the hatred I have for the scarf, and I apologize for giving everyone cut-eye as they ask me details about the scarf.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to give you cut-eye. I mean to give it to the scarf."

In closing, I'm about 85% complete. There's probably about 30 yards of yarn left. The scarf is quite beautiful despite the pure anger that went into it. I will post a pic as soon as it's done.

Lesson of this posting: If you hate something almost immediately after casting on, do yourself a favour and pick something else. Also, do not tell the recipient on the gift that you are making it. Then the expectation is just guilt on top of your God-awful knitting project.

Until a happier knitting post,

Little Miss Cowl Co.

Dreaming of Pantone - Contest Alert!

I had one weird dream last night.

It's interesting how my dreams stem from simple little conversations I have had throughout the day. The thoughts must stay in my subconscious, and usually turn out weird during my REM sleep. This one however, was interesting-weird.

I had a dream last night that I was back at University of Bologna (insert big music festival in Bologna last night, and a conversation I was having with a co-worker about keeping my options open about going back to school). While I was in Bologna/Dreamland, I was filling out a survey about which Pantone (www.pantone.com) colour I would associate with the following:

- Vacation
- Boyfriend/Love
- Best Friend

This is the weird part. I actually chose the Pantone colour by number. Now, in order to write this post I had to verify my dream accuracy. I don't remember the exact number I chose, but I do remember the exact shade.

- Vacation - 15-5819 TCX Spearmint
- Boyfriend - 12-4608 TCX Clearwater
- Best Friend - 15-3910 TCX Languid Lavender

Now, if you're asking "who" or "what" Pantone is - here is a quick breakdown. Pantone is the leading worldwide colour authority for colour. The company has given a numerical code to almost every colour imaginable to the human eye. If you want to paint your car or house a specific colour, just walk into a paint store and request Pantone colour # and voila - your car or house will be THE EXACT colour.

So, back to my story. Since I woke up thoroughly inspired, I decided to host my first ever cowl contest!

The Pantone-Cowl Contest

The Grand Prize will be a City Cowl ($50 value) in as close as possible to one of the Pantone colours you chose).



The City Cowl - more colours to chose from!

 The criteria for entering the contest are as follows:

1. Leave a comment on this blog posting stating your top three Pantone colours - and why. You can search through the Pantone website for this - it's actually much more fun than it sounds.
2. "Like" my Facebook page "The Little Cowl Company"
3. Follow me on Twitter (@thelittlecowlco)
4. "Share" the link for this blog posting on Twitter - and of course link my account!
5. Of course, follow the blog!

The more criteria met, the better your chance at winning! The Contest will close on Monday April 1st at 11:59pm EST. I will chose a winner using www.random.org and will announce the winner on the blog.

Good luck to all who enter, I can't wait to hear all your feedback!

Fashion over Function

Although this is usually a knitting-only blog, I recently had a fashion experience that I thought I would share with you all.

Ever since I moved into my condo, my Saturday nights have consisted of pizza and a movie in front of my TV. I cherish my calm Saturdays, usually spent snuggled with my boyfriend rather than out and about. I have become a bonafide homebody, and seem to be having a honeymoon with my condo. I don't want to leave!

Before I moved in, I would never pass up an opportunity to indulge in a club or bar downtown, dinner with my friends, hit a patio or two in Little Italy or grab an ice cream in Yorkville and walk around aimlessly. Seeing as I haven't really been to a social outting out of the confines of my cozy diggs in months, I jumped at the opportunity of dinner and dancing with my boyfriend and some friends. Of course, I decided on a cute outfit and couldn't WAIT to wear my delicious new Brian Atwood "Maniac" pumps in Coral calf hair.

I bought them at Holt Renfrew Last Call during a closing sale. The shoes had an original price tag of $695 Canadian, and I paid $89 + HST *insert happy dance*. I love Brian Atwood, and was thrilled to finally be able to snag a pair of his shoes without breaking the bank.



Brian Atwood "Maniac" pump in coral calf hair

 I paired the shoes with a white silk blouse from Aritzia and navy blue skinny pants with blue velvet polkdots. I added some gold stud earrings, Stella & Dot clover long gold necklace, Michael Kors Tortoise & Gold watch, and my favorite Alviero Martini 1a Classe thick bracelet. I looked pretty good, until I stood up.

I couldn't walk: I bought the shoes a half-size too small - on purpose no less. My foot is quite narrow, so when I wear heels my feel slide, leaving a ghastly gap at the back. Usually, buying a half-size too small ensures my foot won't slide and I won't have to worry. In this case, my pinky toe was not happy and decided to swell to the size of my big toe. I tried desperately to heat my shoes under the hand dryer in the ladies room, put baby powder on my feet - all to no avail.

We had to leave the club early as I was literally in tears. I couldn't stand up, sit down, walk, dance or generally think straight. I seriously think I was developing a fever for how bad these gorgeous shoes hurt. When we got to the car, I shed a few tears openly (think Kim Kardashian ugly cry) and spent the rest of the car ride with the A/C on my feet.

Have you ever experienced a fashion-over-function pain? What are your remedies?

I will be try some internet suggested options. I refuse to never wear these again. They are stunning and gorgeous, and I got them on sale. I love them with every fibre in my body, including my baby toe which has still not forgiven me.

Until next time,

Little Miss Cowl Co.

Knitting & Nuptuals

I have a confession to make. Ok, apart from sneaking scoops of Nutella when no one is looking. I have been planning my wedding from the time I was about 8. 

The madness started when I received the "My Perfect Wedding" board game (I kid you not - it existed and it was fantastic). The object of the game was to successfully book your band, flowers, dress, etc with enough money left over to walk down the aisle and get married. The game pieces include plastic engagement rings in four different colors and the grand prize of a yellow plastic wedding band. I think people got sick of me playing it so much, so I played with my dad a lot (insert Father of the Century award here).

By the time I was a tween, my best friend and I would go over what dress we wanted to walk down the aisle in, color of flowers and bridesmaid dresses, and who our celebrity groom would be (I'd like you all to know that I called dibs on Jonathan Taylor Thomas, my friend chose Andrew Keegan and we were both lived happily ever after in our imaginary marriages).

As time went on, I luckily found myself helping those around me as they planned and executed the most important day of their lives. Two of my closest friends got married over the past year, a few more are about to - and now, as I see myself close to accepting a proposal from my boyfriend of a year, I am increasingly looking at the smaller details of wedding planning. Specifically, I'm looking at how my knitting skills/obsession can be intertwined in all of this.

I'm not a huge fan of the "garter" tradition myself - but a hand knit garter is a great way for someone to contribute to a wedding. The stitches are usually quite fine, as is the quality of the yarn used. Hand knit garters take a lot of time and care to create, and therefore can be a great option for a mother-in-law, grandmother, godmother, aunt, or friend to give to a bride-to-be.

Another hand knit item could be either bomboniere (thank-you gifts) for attendees or for a bridal shower. Hand knit doilies, wash cloths, tea cozies, coffee cozies, etc etc. These can be of course be part of a theme (i.e tea-party themed bridal shower, wash cloth for spa themed shower and so on) or just be something special you decided to knit up as a thank you for your guests. If you chose to have a bridal party, you can make knitting nights with them and everyone can have a hand at creating something as well.

There are many benefits to knitting thank-you favors. First, it can be very budget friendly (depending on the yarn used). Cotton washcloths are usually knit up using about $2 worth of cotton yarn each. Second, it can be an effective way to de-stash and use up your free time while still enjoying knitting.

The downsides, however is mainly that some guests may not appreciate the time, talent and effort of a hand-knit item. Depending on the size of the wedding and the number of attendees, knitting up dozens - or hundreds - of favors may be more effort than it is worth. 

All in all, I think I will try to incorporate some of my knitting passion into my future wedding. After all, apart from a wedding being a celebration of two people's love for each other, I think it's important for it to be personal and display personality and taste.

Until next time,

Little Miss Cowl Co.

Swap Shop Eat

So, I'm officially addicted to swaps.

I've participated in three so far, and have to tell you - they are so much fun!

The latest was with my local knitting group - we decided back in September to do a swap, and have been working away at it ever since. We are a group of about five ladies, and have gotten to know each other quite well over the past couple of years. We're all on Ravelry, and all share our favourite yarns, patterns, ideas etc at our bi-weekly knit nights. We decided to have our swap coincide with Chinese New Year so we would have hopefully jumped over the Christmas rush. We planned a downtown date - brunch at my favourite French bistro, Bonjour Brioche (812 Queen St E) and then off for some yarn shopping at the Purple Purl (1162 Queen St E). 

On my way to swap day!

My swap partner likes coral colours and natural fibres, and doesn't like knitting with chunky yarns herself - so I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to make her. This came with it's fair share of hiccups, though. I initially was going to knit her the Gaptastic Cowl (find the pattern on Ravelry). It is an extra chunky infinity scarf in a seed stitch pattern. I thought it would have been perfect for her - until she showed up at a knit night wearing it! Her daughter had made one in a lovely Raspberry chunky yarn, and it looked wonderful on her. I was about a month away from the swap deadline - and beginning to panic.

I decided to knit her the Clara cowl (also a free pattern on Ravelry) by designer Gretchen Ronnevic. It's a giant cable, and ends up looking like a braid. There is an option to double up and make it an infinity scarf, but I thought the beauty of the detail would have been lost, so I stuck to the original pattern dimensions. I used Diamond Brand Baby Alpaca Sport in a Chunky weight. Here's the finished project below:

Clara Cowl in Coral Alpaca

Clara Cowl in Coral Alpaca

I included the Ravelry anniversary project bag and Closely Knit by Hannah Fattig (who I found out, is my swap partners favourite designer!). I also gave her some extra yarn (about a full skein minus a few yards) so she could make a matching headband or fingerless mitts. Thank goodness she liked the gift (she wouldn't take the cowl off!) and I was in awe of what I received.

The first thing I opened was the book - The Knitter's Life List by Gwen Steege. This book is like a bucket list for knitters - yarns, patterns, ideas etc. It is a crucial step in any knitter's path to becoming a capital-K Knitter. Next was Americo Copito Medio yarn (think "Thick & Thin" but way more luxurious) in a gorgeous eggplant/plum colourway. It came with a hat pattern, which is perfect since I need a hat! I save the best for last...she knit me "Celebrating Azzu's Shawl" by Emma Fassio. The shawl was born out of two friends brought together by knitting - PERFECT! It was knit with Madeline Tosh Tosh Lace in Composition Book Grey. Everything about this shawl is perfect - the idea and thought behind it, colourway, superwash, detail, and love put into every knit, purl and YO.

Celebrating Azzu's Shawl

Swap day is here!

Perfection. I am in love with everything!

To close, I hope everyone reading this has an opportunity at one point in their knitting lives to participate in a swap. Giving something you made to someone else who appreciates all the work and love you put into it is priceless. Receiving something directly related to your knitting passion is wonderful, but most of all - sharing the experience with close friends is incomparable.

Happy swapping and of course, happy knitting!

With love,

Little Miss Cowl Co