Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'

As I pulled up  the blinds and opened the window this morning I was met with the brightest sunshine and a definite hope of spring in the air - if my life were a musical I would have burst into song - "Oh what a beautiful mornin'" from Oklahoma! or something. Now it will be a long time before "the corn is as high as an elephant's eye", or what passes as summer in our part of the world. There is still a bit of a chill in the air, and you know, that's a good thing!

Because that means I get a chance to wear my new Love is actually all around cowl! I'm ridiculously proud of this thing - not only did I master two new techniques, but I started it, worked my way through and actually finished it without getting sidetracked.

I knew the minute I saw this pattern on Knitty that I had to make it. The yarn looked so sumptious and the hearts in squares were sort of quilty and it was intriguing to end up with a product which looked the same on both sides.

I couldn't find any yarn which looked half as good as the Madelinetosh DK used in the original locally, so I ordered it online. The delivery was swift, which meant that I had only just had time to set the pattern up in my KnitCompanion app and was ready to start the minute I got it home.

I have never tried my hand at double knitting before, but found a video on YouTube which explained it all. Now I must admit I was a bit sceptical and thought this couldn't possibly work as I sat there combining two cable needles full of stitches in the beginning to a round of stitches which should have been enough for a sweater. I just had to go on blind faith in the beginning, because it all looked a mess, but after three or four rounds something started to happen - the stitches gathered themselves into a kind of knitted fabric with a smooth back and front. It all seemed very complicated to begin with, and I sat here muttering to myself: "yarn in front, purl, yarn in back, knit" like a mantra, but after a while my mind and my fingers got the hang of it, and I even managed to work out how to correct a few mistakes along the way without frogging the whole thing. The heart and square pattern helped me along - it was all "I just have to do another round so I can see how it turns out". The finishing off with Kitchener stitch went like a breeze - I had read a bit about how complicated it was, but really, there was nothing to it after mastering double knitting!
The yarn was a delight to work with, soft and smooth, and the depth of colour makes it so so lovely.

Time for a walk to show it off, I think!