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 mittens—I 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).