The clown cowl
I was all excited to get started on making this cowl for a friend last week… then I sat down to work on it and realized I read the pattern wrong and didn’t have the right circular needles.
Mica deciphered the confusing directions for me!
So I ordered the right size needles, and while I waited for them to come, I looked through the yarn stash my snis sent me to find something to work on in the mean time. Only, every project I found, that I had the right amount of yarn for, required needles I don’t have. Sigh. The good news is, I read a lot about when to use circular needles (and what size) versus double pointed needles, and have a decent understanding of it. The bad news is, I “need” a lot of needles I don’t have (time to start making my holiday wish list!).
I saved all the patterns I found for a future date, and waited for the circular needles for the cowl to come.
And I started it when they did. And got the hang of working in the round, despite not really finding it enjoyable (although that could change). The cowl went pretty quickly.
But as I was working on it, I realized I really did NOT like the pattern. At all. I liked how it looked on the model in the photo, but not on me.
I can’t give this ugly cowl to anyone but Goodwill. It makes me look like a clown! Ugh.
At least I learned how to knit in the round on this, though!
Maybe in the future I’ll learn how to read patterns better, and know by looking at them, I won’t like how it turns out.
Themocracy
I think that the cowl is too symmetric and maybe that is what is making it look funny. Maybe? I’ve messed up so many things that I’ve crocheted or gotten halfway through and been all “Nope!” so I get the not liking the end result! It always looks better in the picture!
That is definitely part of the problem! And I don’t like the pattern used for the symmetry. It’s odd – the end and beginning are very distinctive, then it has a varying pattern in between that almost looks the same. So it needs more variety or to be all the same. Ha ha!
I didn’t know you crocheted! Are you making anything now?
Hmm yes that seems weird–either go for a pattern or go for a lot of variety I would think!
Yup I do crochet but I do so very sporadically. I’ve been working on a pillow for over a year now. But now that it is winter again I might get back into it. I did make a really awesome Christmas sweater vest for an ugly sweater party 2 years ago. I need a new scarf and new hat for winter too! I should take your lead and make some Christmas gifts because I think hats and scarves would make great gifts!
You totally should make some, and finish that pillow, too! I knitted less in the summer when I was out and about so much, but now that’s dark in the evenings, I enjoy doing it while we watch a movie!
have I seen pics of this vest?! I think so! 🙂
Maybe the coloring as well? Do you typically like wearing that color against your face? Also, on the model it looks bigger or wider… like it was looped twice whereas yours appears only once.
Red usually works for me! 🙂 But yeah, despite checking gauge, I did not have enough yarn, even with their recommended three balls, to add more, so it’s smaller, too! But I can’t really imagine it bigger, ha!
I think this actually worked out well. You now have a Halloween costume idea – clowns!!!
OMG, we SHOULD go as a bunch of terrifying clowns!!!!
I think you’re wearing it inside out, which might contribute to not liking it, but honestly? We all make some mistakes with pattern choices…just like we do with clothing purchases, right? You might want to look at the GAP-tastic pattern on Ravelry – I’ve made 3 of them, and while sometimes doing seed stitch makes me want to poke my eyes out with my knitting needles, they all look fantastic when finished (I only make mine about 2/3’s the width, fyi).
I was wondering that when I was knitting it – like, is the right side the outside, or inside? Hmm. I was going to give it to Goodwill, but my snis said she wants it to try to style it. LOL!!!!
Yeah, and I totally expect to make mistakes like this. At least I learned knitting in the round and it forced me look up a lot of info about DPNs vs circulars when I was waiting for the new needles to arrive.
I’ve heard rave stuff about that pattern. And I really like seed stitch, hee hee. I made my snister a huge infinity seed stitch scarf in February! Good top about the width!!!
Might be a difference in the yarn too…hers looks fluffier than yours, and drapey so it looks more like a twisted/looped infinity scarf where yours ended up more like a neck ruff, more stiff. I don’t think clown so much as Victorian, almost? Weird how these turn out, I was never good at translating patterns into reality in my head so I got surprised a lot when I used to crochet.
The odd thing is that it’s the exact same yarn, just a different color AND (the big difference) smaller, because the pattern wasn’t written well. Ha ha. Victorian is a good way to describe it, too!
Martina is knitting a nice one with chunky wool right now. if that works out I’ll send u a picture so maybe u could try that pattern instead. Rip it apart and reuse the yarn if you don’t like it!!
Yeah, send it! I am done working with this yarn though. This thing is out of sight and out of mind. I’d maybe do her pattern with new yarn 🙂
I like the color, so I think Kathy’s idea is a good one – reuse the yarn!
It’s super easy to unravel these but I just… am not in the mood. Ha ha! My snister said she will take it and see what she can do with it. Ugh. I just don’t want to see it anymore.
Well gosh, I don’t think it looks that bad lol When it is cold out with the right color coat it could work.
That’s what my snister thought – paired with a coat, it would be okay. Ha ha!
Isn’t it crazy how different something can turn out between picture and real life? It’s a whole other skill set to be able to see a pattern and know if it’s really going to work or not. It’s kind of how my mom can look at a recipe and know if it’s going to work well or if it’s going to need adjustments (for cooking, not baking). I guess it just comes with practice!
Steven is like that with recipes, too! Ha, makes me wonder if I will ever get that way with knitting – I am not very good at that sort of thing!
Eek, behind on commenting, and I’m sure you’ve given it away by now. One thing that might help is blocking the yarn. It’s still a little “stiff” and hasn’t gotten stretched out at all. Sometimes, that helps knit garments lie down and act a little more “natural.”
(That being said, it’s still kind of a weird pattern!! I definitely like cowls that you can wrap around your neck twice, otherwise I feel like I’m wearing an awkward ruff.)
I wonder if I do need to do more blocking. Any tips on that? I have only blocked one thing, and I just soaked it, then laid it between towels with heavy books on it.
I made these other one loop cowls that looked good, but they were a much smaller scale. This, just… ugh. LOL