Projects
Knitting Reenactment: Breton Cowl
Dear Ann,
We’re like kids in a candy store, only the candy in our store is yarn. A few weeks ago, I knit through my Breton Cowl kit like it was a bag of Dark Lindor Truffles, leaving a trail of wrappers in my wake.
If I can resist keeping it for myself, this cowl goes on the Christmas gift pile for an Especially Deserving Recipient (Because She Gave Birth To Me). The merino/cashmere of Shibui Drift is perfect for la peau sensible of my Most Moisturized Mom, whose eyes are exactly the same shade as Drift’s Graphite, with speckles of Silk Cloud Ash.
In the MDK Shop
Antonia Shankland’s pattern was a breeze. There is one neat move: the welts of Silk Cloud that are formed by folding over a flap of stockinette and knitting the live stitches together with stitches picked up from the bottom of the flap. Very much like making a folded hem on the bottom of a sweater.
(Please praise me for resisting a “weltanschauung” pun here. Weltanshauung is a word that my International Relations professor liked to say a lot back in 1979. It refers to the world view of a person or group. It has nothing to do with silk/mohair welts/folds/tucks, as much as we would like that to be true.)
Ever the good student, I read the pattern all the way through before starting, but when I got to the folding-over bit, I was on the subway and didn’t have the pattern with me. I couldn’t remember exactly where I was supposed to pick up these stitches for the knitting-together part. I figured, I’m smart! I know stuff! — and soldiered on. Here, on a Knitting Reenactment SwatchTM, is where I picked up those stitches:
I picked them up in the wrong side of the very first row of Silk Cloud, where it was knitted straight onto the Drift. It was so easy to see them there: a little dotted line of Silk Cloud. Stitch for stitch, I picked them up and knit them together with the live stitches on the needle. Everything was hunky-dory.
Then I returned to the Graphite Drift, and knit on my merry way.
It looks just great on the right side.
And on the wrong side. So very tidy.
When I checked the pattern later, I saw that I was supposed to have picked up stitches in the 6th row from the top of the Silk Cloud flap–in other words, right in the Silk Cloud. I tried it on the Knitting Reenactment SwatchTM:
If you fold it like this, it’s easy to see where that 6th row down is; it’s the first row that’s all in Silk Cloud.
It worked fine. But it wasn’t as easy for me to keep track of where I was supposed to pick up, without that handy dotted line. All was Silk Cloud, to the north, south, east and west. I kept doing it my way for the rest of the stripes.
The other minor diversion was when I disregarded the instruction not to cut the Silk Cloud, but to carry it up along the back of the cowl until it was needed again. I didn’t want to drag a line of it up the back, so I cut it. Silk Cloud is so sticky that it is very secure when woven in, and so thin that it mooshes right in. I probably wasted a yard of yarn doing it this way, but there was no harm done; I had enough. What can I say, I’m set in my ways.
MOAR CANDY PLEASE.
Love,
Kay
Gorgeous cowl!
I continue to be amazed by what a difference color makes… I found the Breton Cowl kind of a yawn in the original colors. Not so in these colors! Onto the queue it goes.
Kay, your sentiments with regard to your MMM, were beautiful. They brought a tear to my eyes thinking of my own mom.
The cowl is lovely, and your report really brought my attention to it.
Following up on the “gift drawer” theme, this is a perfect example of something I can thoroughly enjoy knitting for a to-be-determined recipient. Don’t you love the techniques that are relatively simple (not finger-bendingly K3TTBL-intense) and produce an elegant result? It’s all heel-turning to me 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous!
That just might be a first…a “knitting reenactment!”
Absolutely beautiful and thank you for the reenactments!
It is so cruel for you to write this because I haven’t received my Field Guide yet! (Cue the whining.)
Oooh! I have done welts in the Montbretia cowl from the Book of haps, this looks like a lovely way to do more. I too always cut and weave rather than carrying yarn up the back of things.
Thanks for your tips. As a nearsighted person with bifocals, your picking up looks so much better.
I am waiting to see you in person this weekend to buy my copy of the first Field Guide! The cowl is lovely and luxurious, maybe my mom needs one as well!
It looks great! So soft, cushy, and warm. MMM will love it, if you and/or Olive don’t swipe it. (Don’t bring it near the MDK Yarn Testing Lab, or you’ll never see it again without a cat on it!)
Dearest Kay, Thank you for that handy tip about a dotted line! I am expected to “think” and “know things” during the work week. This takes some of the burden off during after-hours. I like this idea as much as I like highlighters!
“A few weeks ago, I knit through my Breton Cowl kit like it was a bag of Dark Lindor Truffles, leaving a trail of wrappers in my wake.” Love this image, as (of course) knitting and dark Lindt chocolate are two of our house staples!
This is the perfect solution for using up those partial skeins of kidsilk I have hanging about! I use them for lining mittens, but haven’t knit mittens in a few years (because one can honestly only have so many pairs), but this is a lovely way to use it on a pretty ultilitarian item
I do love a good knitting reenactment! Bravo!
ooooh this is a very good one. Very very good one.
Love this cowl. You are so sweet to give this to your mom. I lost my mom 5 years ago and she would have adored this cowl.
This is not the right place I know, but I like your hand towels very much and am wondering if they would work with a yarn that’s 70% linen/flax and 30%cotton?
Kay, your Most Moisturized Mom popped into my head this week because I was thinking that I hadn’t seen you talking about her lately. Glad to see this beautiful cowl might be a lovely gift for her.
Despite the most accurate technique for welts being to pick up in the exact-same stitch-column for each stitch, yours is the way I’ve always picked up to create a welt when working said welt in a different color than the rest of the piece – the dotted line is just too irresistibly visible!