knitted :: Irving Cowl, originally uploaded by earthchick.

Recently, my gal Heather turned me on to the Irving Hat pattern, which is to say, she mentioned it and I got obsessed. So when I needed a quick knit for the school craft/bake sale, I knew I wanted to bang out this hat, and I had the perfect yarn – Plucky Rustic in “Chino,” left over from my Zelkova cardigan. LOVE that yarn.

Only it turned out I didn’t actually have enough. I knit as fast I could, but I couldn’t outknit the skein. So, I converted it into a cowl.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out. The Plucky Rustic is such a delightfully crunchy yarn – soft and crisp, in the gorgeous layered color you would expect from The Plucky Knitter.

I got the cowl finished in plenty of time, and dropped it off for the sale when I dropped my kids off at school. Within 10 minutes of dropping it off, I realized I didn’t yet have a teacher gift for the boys’ piano teacher; their lesson was that afternoon. I briefly wondered if I could find something at the craft sale for her. Then I realized what would be the perfect thing – a cute chunky lace cowl! Bah!

I thought about it all day. When I went to pick the boys up from school for their piano lesson, the sale had just started. My cowl was priced for $12 – less than the price of the yarn! So I bought it. $12 for a sweet handknit cowl? That’s a bargain!

One of these days, I’ll make the actual hat – such a fun, fast pattern. But it’s a great pattern for a cowl, too!

raveled