Cowl Gone Wrong
and then fixed!
Meaningful Monday.
Nothing is perfect! Even so, perfect endings are possible.
In early December, my husband requested a cowl to keep his neck warm while skiing. Being a new knitter, I decided that this would be a perfect challenge.
First, I’d need more yarn. So I went to a yarn store that talked me into an entire cone of black cashmere yarn. I will be making black items for a while. I would also need to follow a pattern and learn to knit in the round! What could go wrong?
Well, the cowl had a twist in it… not what I planned, not a part of the pattern, but a common mistake for beginners learning to knit in the round. I noticed the problem several hours into knitting, and I decided to keep going anyway. Because, beginner’s brain.
Once I cast off, I decided to try it on myself. Oh gosh, it was tight! I managed to get it over my head, but my nose took the brunt of my effort. Clearly, this cowl was not the cowl my husband would want or even be able to get onto his neck! What to do? Honestly, I wish I had known that there are different types of casting off. Some cast-offs are stretchy, and some are not stretchy; both types are used in different situations.
Did I mention that I sort of, didn’t really, use the pattern as was intended???
The only thing I could do was fix the issues—too tight and the twist needed to go away!!! It never occurred to me to unravel the project and start again. That might have been a solution. My solution was much more complicated, with a lot more to learn in the process!
I decided to cut the cowl, remove the twist, and then add a few inches of fabric so that it would fit over a head without compromising one’s nose.
It doesn’t show very well in this image above, but before I cut the fabric, I stitched double “secure lines” on each side of where I planned to cut. These stitched lines were accomplished with my sewing machine and black thread.
I kept cutting.
Until the cowl was…just fabric. This is where I will stop and ask a Meaningful Monday Question: When a project goes astray, do you problem-solve or give up?
At this stage, one problem was solved. It was easy to remove the twist in the fabric.
Now it actually looks like a cowl, but I still have the size issue to address. I took out my knitting needles and made a piece of knitted fabric that would make the cowl about an inch wider. I forgot to take a picture of this step, but the idea was to fill the gap as shown below.
I will mention here that I did not take into consideration the direction of the fabric wave, but I figured “done is better than trash”! After all, this was an early project, and I still had so much to learn!
Again, no pictures, but I made the extra fabric and stitched it together with the same yarn I was using to make the cowl—I have so much black yarn!!! The stitches I made with the sewing machine remained a part of the finished project.
It was at this point that I decided this cowl is a “Frankenstein Cowl”. It was so pieced together that it was rather embarrassing. I also had several small holes in the fabric due to my inexperience, and I had not noticed them until this stage, that is, now that the piece is an actual wearable cowl.
I decided to work with the theme of Frankenstein. Every small hole was given visible mending treatment. This part was easy for me and actually quite fun!
Perfect was never the plan.
I blocked it, waited for it to dry, and gifted it to my husband. He loves it!
Okay, I’ll show it without the snow. Here you go! See below.
Creative problem-solving is endlessly interesting as long as I am willing to keep going. Perfect was never my plan. This cowl does its job well.
I have continued to knit many other items in black after this near-disaster of a cowl. Dr. Frankenstein would be proud!
Sweet Antidote is where generosity meets art in conversation. A twice-monthly gathering on Zoom (and also offers a private online space for discussion) for artists who crave depth, honesty, and creative kinship. I, Suzanne, lead these calls, and no two are ever the same!
Watch out! I might ask you to keep going even when a project goes off the rails.
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Fun story to read and glad it turned out !