Hot Vegas Sands

Hey Robin!
I think I had already mentioned that I made a cowl out of the Silky Merino Malabrigo that my Malabrigo-Swap partner sent me. It's such a gorgeous color and I luuuurve the silky (evidenced by the fact that I have since ordered 5 skeins of silky and make a Clapotis out of it... but that's another blog post on another day). Anyhoo, I wanted to share the deets about the cowl because I am pretty durn proud of it.

There is no lack of cowl patterns to be found on Ravelry. Seriously. Tons. And yet none of them was exactly-right for what I wanted... so I looked in other places (scarf designs) and found the perfect pattern. I have been wanting to make the scarf for so long, this was a way to temper that desire and still get something I wanted. I give you: Vegas Sands! (Thought it was pretty perfect as the pattern I "stole" from is called Shifting Sands and the color reminds me a LOT of the neon entry at the Flamingo Hotel in Vegas.)

I used the basic dimensions found in many cowl patterns, extrapolated a stitch count from what Grumperina said about her stitch and went to town. It was a seriously fast knit and very satisfying! I highly recommend Grumperina's tutorial on how to cable without a cable kneedle. And now, for the first time I will share my own pattern! Enjoy and please feel free to make your own version and share a picture with me!

Vegas Sands (the cowl)

Materials:
1 skein Malabrigo Silky Merino in Amoroso colorway (or Intenso)
Size 7 circs, 16” length
Tapestry kneedle

Gauge: approx 5 sts/inch in stockinette, approx 22 sts/4 inches in pattern

Finished size: about 8” long by 18” around

Pattern stitch (adapted from Grumperina’s Shifting Sands Scarf):
Worked over 4 rows:
Row 1 (RS): *1/2LC, K2, repeat to end
Row 2 and 4: knit
Row 3: *k2, 1/2RC, rep to end

Pattern:

CO 105 sts using whatever method you like to give you a nice-edge, but remembering not to start too tightly as this does have to fit over your head! The edges will curl a little, but I consider that part of the charm. If you would like it to not-curl, perhaps go with a picot-hem at both edges? I haven’t tried that yet, but it would probably work well.

Knit first row, joining the ends and being sure to place a marker at the beginning of the row.

Next row: begin the pattern stitch and continue knitting in the round until the piece measures approx 8”. End with a row 4 if you can, but I really don't think it matters all that much. Bind off loosely in your favorite manner, I used a bobble-style picot bind off because I like to know which edge is the top:

Work picot bind off as follows:
*Knit 1 st. Slip knit st back to left-hand needle. Use cable cast on method to cast on 2 sts. Bind off 7 sts. Repeat from * until all sts are bound off. Cut yarn. Using yarn tail, connect the first picot point of the round to the last bound-off stitch.

Finishing: Weave in ends, block if you want (but I didn’t) wear around the house and look MAGNIFICENT!

Abbreviations:
1/2LC: slip 1 st to cable kneedle and hold in front, k2, then knit1 from cn
1/2RC: slip 2 sts to cn and hold in back, k1, then k2 from cn

cn: cable kneedle
co: cast on

Note: there were no test-knits so if you find any errors please let me know!

Later!