Lace and seaweed and silk and COWL!

 This yarn is magical.
I"ve been coveting this yarn since I first heard of it.
It's Hand Maiden Sea Silk, a yarn made from silk, seacell (derived from seaweed) and magic.
It's luscious and soft without feeling draggy, and working with it reminds me of the sea.

The yarn had to become a cowl. Something up close to the face so its lusciousness could be fully appreciated.

I thought it was going to be for me, but the colors are absolutely perfect for my mom, so I'm knitting the cowl for her.

After much Ravelry-searching, I've settled on the Frost Flower cowl by Esther Budd. Something lacy but not too frilly, something that will play well with the oceanic theme, I hope.

Urgh. I’ve decided that picot cast-on may be my new least favorite. My picots are a little uneven, but I’m not doing them again. I wasn’t cut out to casting on 144 stitches. Especially when you’re effectively casting on many more than that, only to bind them into pretty(-ish) little points.

 I love the feeling when the chart is coming together in my head and making sense.
Note though, the pattern says “repeat 32 stitches of chart 4 times”. They do mean repeat the whole chart, all 36 stitches of it.
Something about shuffling the pattern repeat over messed with my head, but then it made me understand the pattern a lot better, and soon it was flying along.

 I decided to stop at 1 1/2 repeats of the chart, lest I run out of yarn.
I like the odd number better anyway, so that worked out well.
I had to learn how to block the cowl, but the result was sooo worth it.
It's an elegant accessory, more decorative than warm.