Here's a little project I knit for myself as I recovered from my epic four-fail weekend.
It's the Medusa Cowl from Ruby Submarine. Ruby Submarine patterns have a decidedly oceanic bent to them without being kitschy or hitting you over the head with a motif. I really love how tentacle-y this pattern is; inspired by the Medusa jellyfish, no doubt.
It was a really quick and easy knit - exactly what I needed after a frustrating weekend. Medusa is knit in the round, basically in bands of stockinette stitch which are separated by areas where you bind off and then cast back on in the next row to create the loopy, holey affect. A few intersections where you don't bind off or cast on keep your scarf in one piece, and the stockinette makes it curl into tentacles with the purled side showing.
You can wear it any number of ways - looped a few times, draped across the shoulders or down the back. I really love how drapey and somewhat amorphous it is. I'm not really sure that "scarf" is really the right word to use for it.
The pattern is knit with bulky yarn on large (US 13) needles to give it an extra drapey, loose feel. I'm really pleased with the yarn I used. It's Ella Rae Lace Merino Chunky, which is a 100% merino, in a blue green colorway. I couldn't resist picking seaweed or Caribbean blue hues for this cowl. I was unfamiliar with the yarn until my LYS suggested it for this project. I have to say, it's unbelievably soft. This is definitely the kind of yarn you'd like to have next to your face.
It's the Medusa Cowl from Ruby Submarine. Ruby Submarine patterns have a decidedly oceanic bent to them without being kitschy or hitting you over the head with a motif. I really love how tentacle-y this pattern is; inspired by the Medusa jellyfish, no doubt.
It was a really quick and easy knit - exactly what I needed after a frustrating weekend. Medusa is knit in the round, basically in bands of stockinette stitch which are separated by areas where you bind off and then cast back on in the next row to create the loopy, holey affect. A few intersections where you don't bind off or cast on keep your scarf in one piece, and the stockinette makes it curl into tentacles with the purled side showing.
Tentacles
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| Here's one of the intersections where you knit a few stitches in between tentacles. |
You can wear it any number of ways - looped a few times, draped across the shoulders or down the back. I really love how drapey and somewhat amorphous it is. I'm not really sure that "scarf" is really the right word to use for it.
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| This view makes me think of seaweed |
The pattern is knit with bulky yarn on large (US 13) needles to give it an extra drapey, loose feel. I'm really pleased with the yarn I used. It's Ella Rae Lace Merino Chunky, which is a 100% merino, in a blue green colorway. I couldn't resist picking seaweed or Caribbean blue hues for this cowl. I was unfamiliar with the yarn until my LYS suggested it for this project. I have to say, it's unbelievably soft. This is definitely the kind of yarn you'd like to have next to your face.
Gauge is somewhat irrelevant for a project like this, but mine was a little tighter than the suggested 2.75 stitches per inch, clocking it at about 3st/inch. So, my Medusa came out a bit short. I think my yarn was perhaps slightly thin for a bulky. However, I think the needle size was right for this yarn and project. The stitches look so pretty IMHO and I don't think would look better if they were any looser. So, overall, I'm really happy with the end results and I've been wearing this cowl pretty non stop, both outdoors as a scarf and indoors as an additional warm layer and pop of color over a top.
A few questions for you other knitters: When you are knitting a project like this, do you even bother to check the gauge or do you just go by whether things look good as you knit? Also, I haven't actually blocked this cowl. Would you? To be frank, I'm not the most knowledgeable about blocking and I'm not sure how I would or what shape I should block it into. Does it matter?
