January 17, 2013

A Matched Set

Last year, I posted a photo of a fair-isle tam that I knitted for a friend's birthday. Although I generally don't like to knit small things—namely, socks and mittensI sometimes make tams for birthday gifts or as gestures of friendship

I recently expanded my pool of giftable items: I designed a cowl to match one of the tams that I had knitted last year. Here is the result:


Verona, Wisconsin, January 2013. I didn't decrease the number of stitches to achieve the narrowing at the top; instead, I reduced needle sizes, moving from a 3.5mm at the bottom to a 2.5mm at the top of the piece. When I blocked the cowl, I also soaked the top four inches in a cup of boiling water to narrow it further.

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Verona, Wisconsin, January 2013.  I used nine shades of undyed (natural sheep colors) Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift. I bought the yarn from Janine Bajus, the Feral Knitter.

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Madison, Wisconsin, January 2013. The cowl meets the tam. My Mom thought the cowl looked like a micro-mini skirt!

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Althouse models the matched set (photo by Meade).

24 comments:

Peter Hoh said...

Trying my best not to make a joke about the micro-miniskirt.

Irene said...

Haha!

bagoh20 said...

It's very nice, and a great pattern, but if that's a miniskirt then your legs must go all the way up to ... OMG!


robot?

I forgot how much I hated that. Thanks for the reminder. I need a break anyway.

Aridog said...

I like the Tam & Cowl...the Tam in particular. I'd forgotten the utility of that design, which is remotely similar to the Pashtun Chitrali Pakol. They can be purchased on-line from Pakistan, but mine came from Kabul, Afghanistan. I think the Tam might be even more utilitarian and I'm off to find one I like on line.

Janine said...

Love both pieces! They look marvelous modeled. The cowl does look like a skirt--maybe make the next one longer!

Irene said...

Thanks, Everyone!

Janine, I am thinking about a longer version of the cowl as a skirt ...

Anonymous said...

Lovely

Chip Ahoy said...

These are beautiful.

Irene said...

Hi, Chip! Thank you.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Nice blog Irene.

Irene said...

Hi Lem! Thank you (and thanks for visiting/following my little blog).

Ctmom4 said...

Those are lovely! You have a real talent. Is this a business for you, or a hobby?

Irene said...

It's a hobby. There's no money to be made selling hand-knitted items!

Joan said...

That's some serious intarsia you have going there, Irene. Gorgeous.

*sigh*

My hobby used to be knitting, now it's reading about knitting. I'm fascinated by cables and open work in general and by Estonian lace in particular. I tried color work like this a few times and invariably got tangled up in the bobbins, and my gauge was all over the place. I think I was too young and lacked patience. I'd like to get back to it someday.

In the meantime, this is quite inspirational. Something for me to shoot for, if I ever have that elusive combination of downtime, energy, and ability to focus my eyes on detail work.

Irene said...

Hi Joan--Thanks for visiting. The knitting is "stranded," not "intarsia," so I don't use bobbins (I hate bobbins). Check out Janine Bajus's blog and website for the technique. I also love cable work, but now I am consumed by color. Knitting really takes my troubles away.

kimsch said...

That's a great tam and cowl. I'm working on a knit scarf for my sister, with a variegated yarn that imitates fair isle a bit. I was going to make her a cowl, but she says she can't figure out how to wear them, so they look good. I need to make a tam, so I can hide my hair from the cat. He likes to play with my hair and chew on it. Yuck. I'm also working on an entrelac Tunisian crochet baby blanket.

Irene said...

Your story about the hair-chewing cat is funny, Kimsch. I don't have much hair now--and no cat--so I knit tams for other people.

I've never tackled entrelac. Perhaps that will be a project for retirement.

JAL said...

Lovely work Irene -- the color changes are so subtle.

Where do you find time?

MadisonMan said...

My wife is a big supporter of Madelinetosh. Closet full of yarn. She is always knitting something. Your hat and cowl are beautiful works of art.

Irene said...

JAL, thanks! I work part-time, and I knit in the evenings.

MadisonMan, where does your wife buy the Madelinetosh? I have some of it (and a yarn closet, too).

MadisonMan said...

She buys it online. Several and sometimes many packages a month. Found it through ravelry, I'm sure.

Irene said...

Ravelry is wonderful.

kimsch said...

<a href="http://Madelinetosh.com>Madelinetosh.com</a>

Michele L. said...

Decreasing the needle size rather than decreasing stitches is brilliant. And the cowl is mighty fine.