The Collette Neckwarmer

So, last week I mentioned that I knit a neck warmer without the aid of a pattern.

Yeah.
It actually happened.

As you know, if you've ever read my blog, I am not a big fan of knitting variegated yarn. I am, however, a big fan of buying it. There's something about all those beautiful colors here and there in the hank...so many pretty colors...all in one yarn! But alas, when knitted, I hate the pooling and the splotches of colors...it's all just...BLEH! That being said, I have been bothered by an orange and yellow hank of Elizabeth Austin Andes in my stash and I realized if I didn't knit it up soon, I never would.

I searched high and low for a pattern for my single hank. I knew it would have to be either something lace [bleh again] or something with a stitch pattern that would break up the colors and keep the ugly pooling monster at bay. I had limited yardage, so a neck warmer would be the best bet. I saw lots of patterns, but none of them seemed to gel with this yarn.

At wit's end, I pulled out my copy of Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book and started looking at stitch patterns. One seemed like the right stitch for the job. The Linen Stitch.

So I casted on a nice 124 stitches, knit a few moss stitch rows then started the Linen Stitch section. It broke up the yarn enough for a mottled look in some places and stripes in others. I would have loved it to be all mottled, but it's all good because the nasty pool monster was vanquished [for the most part]! The only problem I ran into is the moss stitch border wasn't really working out. It flared a bit too much, so I pulled out what I knit and replaced it with a 2x2 rib. Perfect!

It is still in need of a wash, a block, and a label but I didn't want to delay pictures as people were getting impatient. Geez. Ha ha. It fits nicely and the wool is nice and warm...perfect for a friend who must moved to San Francisco. I hope she likes yellow and orange.

I don't know if I would consider myself a designer just yet, but I do feel freed from the written pattern tether. And now I've got all sorts of ideas running around my head! Is this the slippery slope of designing that I've been trying to avoid?