Harmonia's Rings Cowl

Harmonia's Rings Cowl

In a prior post, I mentioned I attended a knitting retreat in October.  The hostess was Sivia Harding. The focus of the retreat was moebius knitting.  I had watched some moebius knitting videos in the past but had never tried any moebius projects.  The cast on and the moebius knitting process are  fascinating.  If you've never tried it, I encourage you to add a moebius knitting project to your knitting bucket list.

Just to give you an idea how unique moebius knitting is, I encourage you to check out this video from Cat Bordhi.  She is the clever woman who figured out this cast on.  The video can be found HERE.

Also, if you happen to subscribe to "Bluprint" (formerly called "Craftsy"), Cat Bordhi has some great videos and moebius knitting projects on that site.

This cowl starts out as a moebius. Perhaps you can see the unique shaping in the collar portion?  The collar portion also features a picot bind off which I don't think you can see in the photos.  I apologize the photos are not the greatest.

The yarn I used in this project is yarn I purchased at the retreat.  Folks representing Abundant Earth Fiber came to the retreat with yarn and yarn dyeing equipment.  The yarn I used is called "Aviary"; it's a worsted weight yarn made from Merino wool and alpaca.  I made my cowl much longer than the pattern called for so I could use as much of the yarn as possible.  I kind of think of this item as a short cape.  It's easy to wear and it's warm and cozy.  The Harmonia's Rings Cowl is available for purchase on Ravelry.

Sky Above, Earth Below

Sky Above, Earth Below

In October, I went to a knitting retreat in the San Juan Islands (Washington State).  The hostess of the retreat was Sivia Harding, who is a knitwear designer.  Prior to the retreat, she sent all the retreat participants a number of her patterns.  That way, we could pack accordingly... what yarn to buy, what needles to bring, and so on.

"Sky Above, Earth Below" is one of her patterns.  You can make a multi-colored larger version of the shawl or you can make a small version using just one skein of fingering weight yarn.  You can also opt to add beads or not.

Here is my one-skein version of Sky Above, Earth Below.  The yarn is from Sun Valley Fibers (Merino Wool, Cashmere Goat, and Nylon) and the colorway is called "Crimson Leaves".  I did not do a gauge swatch before starting this project and I noticed I was running out of yarn as I was nearing the end. I had to skip a number of rows at the end. Perhaps I was knitting too loosely and used up the yarn too fast.  Oh well!

I have completed a bunch of other projects in the past several weeks.  I'll take a little time to show you over the next few days.