Cassie Stephens: how to knit

Friday, March 30, 2018

DIY: One Skein Rainbow Cowl

Hi. My name is Cassie. I have crafts and will travel.

(okay, I contemplated erasing that last sentence as I kept reading it as "I have crabs and will travel"...it's CRAFTS, people. Not crabs.)

If you follow me here, then you know that I'm fresh off the plane from Seattle. I loved Seattle (my two faves were Chihuly and THE FOOD! I've never had better food in my life, y'all!) but that is one heck of a flight. Heading to Seattle, I traveled with my good buddy David which was great as we had all the time in the world to chat and figure out what we were going to explore and do while in town. However, knowing that I'd be flying solo home, I decided that I'd need something to occupy my time and my hands. So, while on Capitol Hill in Seattle, I popped into a sewing shop and picked up a skein of rainbow yarn.

Now...I know what you are thinking: Cassie, don't you already have a RAINBOW SCARF?! Yes, I'm the proud knitter of a 24' (we measured!) scarf of rainbows. However, that thing is a BEAST. It's heavy, super warm and INSANELY HUGE. So I thought for these less-chilly spring temps, a cowl would be nice...and the rainbow yarn totally sold me. The sweet woman working at the shop gave me some tips on how to make a cowl and I got about this much accomplished on the flight home. Side note: I also watched 3 Billboards while knitting...if you have not seen that movie, DO IT, it's fantastic. I also attempted to watch Happy Death Day. DON'T DO IT. It's no bueno.

Because I've been sharing knitting projects lately, I've been asked by several of y'all to do a knitting tutorial or video. I hesitate because I'm THE WORST KNITTER. You don't want to learn from me! I can strongly recommend this book, it's my knitting bible. Yes, it's for kids...but it's the most clear book on knitting for beginners that I've ever found. Buy it used, you don't need to get the kit. Just purchase the supplies they recommend.

So, if you do decide to knit a one-skein cowl, I'll tell you how I did it:

I started by casting on 40 stitches. In the end, I think I could have cast on less and had a wider cowl. So I would recommend casting on 30. It will seem small but I think it will be fine (again, not a knitter!). Also, I like size 10 needles for a more hole-y knit (not to be confused with holy). Then I simply knit until I ran out of yarn. From there, I used yarn, a tapestry needle and a whip stitch to connect the ends of the scarf. This tube thing is what I ended up with.

Look, maw! I made a tube top!

Putting on a cowl is just as glamorous as one might imagine.

What I loved the best about this knitting project is that it was short! Way faster to knit than a scarf...especially a 24' rainbow scarf!

And quite cozy too.

Perfect for these kinda-chilly/kinda-springy days ahead!
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Sunday, February 18, 2018

How to Knit a Rainbow Scarf

LEEEEET me just start this blog post by stating the obvious: I am not a knitter. I mean, I know HOW to knit but just as much as I know HOW to sing in a wannabe opera voice or I know HOW to tap dance when I have annoying tap dance sounding shoes on. But that don't make me no Maria Callas or Fred Astaire. Knowing such, I should have known better than to even think I could knit a Rainbow Scarf...that didn't look like a giant boa constrictor about to devour me (my buddy Michelle called it the Rainbow Anaconda and I think that's hilariously 100% accurate). Think I'm exaggerating about the size of this thing? Check this out:

I mean...oops.

The whole thing started with a week of snow days and time on my hands. I spotted these colors at the craft store and they all happily hopped into my shopping cart. I had no way of stopping them, I swear (this is the story I tell the hubs. He's not convinced).

I've knitted scarves before and I DISLIKE knitting. It takes to dang long! Which is why I only knit a scarf every two years...it takes me that long to forget what an epic pain in the butt it is in order to begin a new one. And, yes, I'm self taught with the help of a children's book. And, yes, I do have to give myself a refresher course each and every time I pick up knitting again.

Okay, so, lemme tell you how this whole thing happened. I decided I wanted the rainbow to run the length of the scarf. And I also decided to knit on needles in the round. So when I was casting on, I just decided to go by look and not count how much I was casting on...that, obvi, was mistake numero uno. Then the round needles made the knitting appear a lot smaller because they kept everything so compact. Therefore, in actuality, it's the needles fault. Cuz I just kept knitting and knitting and knitting...

Let's talk about the pros and cons of having a 12 foot long (plus!) scarf, shall we?

It gets a lot of attention! I have been stopped by more people when I am wearing this monster. Mostly it's just like, "wow...that scarf...it's really long, isn't it?!" How do you even respond to that? My husband gave the typical "that's what she said" response but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't sound quite right if I said it.

Another pro is that it's very warm...almost too warm. The weight of it tho, seriously, gives me a big of a neck ache after too much wear.

Let's talk cons now, shall we? It seriously takes some thought and time to put this thing on. Because you just keep wrapping and wrapping.

And even when you think you are done wrapping, the scarf is all "but wait, there's more!"

One day, I didn't manage to wrap the whole thing around me and I found that I'd drove all the way home with half of it hanging out the car door. Thankfully the scarf was fine...but I can only imagine what others must have thought when they saw a little blue Honda with a giant rainbow billowing behind it.