Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Owlie

I love owls, so when I saw this cowl confection by Betsy Farquhar, I immediately plunked down $5 and dropped it into my queue. After studying the pattern, I realized that, as written, the pattern was large enough for me to use as a tube top. Besides being too wide, it was long enough to not only cover my neck, but would extend over the top of my head, as well. I live in Georgia and our winters are too mild for face masks. Besides, I would have to add eyeholes (too much work) and it was too memorable to use in a bank robbery.


A little pattern editing was in order. I reduced the number of owls from five to four and eliminated the chevron patterns above and below the main event. I found a pretty skein of peach and green Lisa Souza sock yarn and dyed half of it black.

When I had finished knitting the owls, I decided that the tube would make a lovely hat, should I not want to actually wear a cowl. Waving my magic knitting wand (patent pending), I worked a row of K2tog, K8, YO to make some holes, through which I threaded a tasseled cord after knitting a final inch and binding off.



No, I didn't make an i-cord. Instead, I tightly twisted eight strands together, folded the result in half, and knotted the ends, which produced a twisted cord in about one-tenth the time it would have taken me to knit an i-cord, assuming I could be compelled to do so (not in this lifetime).

The end result is a howl...tighten the cord and it's a hat; loosen the cord and it's a cowl. The concept, which I am sure is not my invention, is clever, requires almost no extra work, and can be adapted to any hat or cowl to produce a hybrid howl.


14 comments:

WendyKnits said...

Yay! Fleegle blogged!

Why, yes, I do give a hoot. ;-)

Vanessa said...

Oh, so very beautiful!
Greetings Vanessa.

steelwool said...

Saw that you will be at Middle Tenn fiber fair. Hoping to see you there. Love the howl as well.

Christine said...

What a cute hat. :-)

kath1996 said...

A-dorable :)

CeltChick said...

I've seen this concept as "Grylla's Howl" (in IK? maybe one of their gifts issues?), and inadvertently created several as gifts -- they started out as hats that were gathered (and no, I didn't make miles of I-cord for them either -- I crocheted the ties!), and one of the recipients opened the thing up & pulled it down around her neck! Surprise! Mine had a little lace, no color work for me thanks. But your Owlies are quite fetching.

yarnlot said...

Lovely, lovely! I am compelled to knit a similar hat for next Winter. Knit in a stiffer yarn and with a bottom added this design would make a very nice bag too...

Laritza said...

I love the eyes on the owls! so cute!

knittingdragonflies said...

This is adorable!
Vicki

gayle said...

And not just an ordinary howl - a full-tilt owl howl...
Love it madly!

blandina said...

Clever, and funny, as always!

Carol said...

So cute! Now just hang a coupld of pom poms off the cord...what? You don't htink more embellishment is better? Hrmph....

Bluebird49 said...

As usual, you are a hoot--and such an inventive one, too! Kudos.

Kathy Kathy Kathy said...

The black is so very black. What kind of dye do you use?
Kathrows on Ravelry