Windy City Cowl

I knitted this cowl for my sister for Christmas.  It was very easy to knit and came together pretty quickly.

I found the pattern, designed by Jen Geigley, on Ravelry.  She calls is the GAP-Tastic Cowl, but I thought it more appropriate to call it the Windy City Cowl because my sister lives in Chicago.  If you're not familiar with Chicago winters, they can be brutal.  A thick, warm cowl like this really comes in handy!

I really like how the seed stitch turned out.  I've never knitted with seed stitch before and it took me a few rows to get into a rhythm.  After that though, it went really quickly. 

One note about the pattern - it calls for a US 13 (9mm) 24" circular needle.  I used a 13, but with a length of 34".  I'm not sure how it would work on a 24" - it seems like it would be really tight. 

The yarn I used is Wool Ease Thick & Quick from Lion Brand.  A bulky weight yarn, that is easy to knit with.

I didn't make the cowl as wide as the pattern calls for.  The pattern says 15", but I think I knitted until it was closer to 12".  I thought 15" might be just a little too wide.

I was in Chicago last weekend to visit my sister and celebrate my birthday.  I planned on taking a few pictures of the cowl for the blog, but completely forgot.  My sister did wear it one day, so here's a shot of it in action:

The picture above was taken on my birthday....my 35th.  Is is just me, or does 35 sound waaaaay older than 34?

We had a great time together.  Did some shopping, watched our MSU Spartans beat Ohio State, and enjoyed cocktails and a delicious dinner.

Here's my sister & I with our Mom, taken after my birthday dinner:

If you are looking for an easy knit, try this cowl - you'll like it!

Baby Surprise Jacket - Finished!

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I finally finished the Baby Surprise Jacket!  You can see my first post about it here.  The pattern is by Elizabeth Zimmermann and was written in 1968!  I had a really great time knitting this.  I am going to give it to my friend who had a baby girl last week.
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Here's the sweater, still on the needles and with only a few more rows to knit:
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The interesting thing about this sweater is that it is knit up in one piece and there are only two seams - one at each arm.

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Here's a picture of the finished knit.  It's hard to believe that this turns into a sweater!

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Fold it up and it looks like this:

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Isn't that amazing?

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Seaming up the sleeves:

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I sewed on three buttons and the sweater was finished.

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Here's the back:

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I found several great resources online for help with this pattern.  The first is a series of videos on YouTube made by the owner of my local yarn shop.  Click here for the first video in the series.  Also helpful, especially for how to seam the arms, is Yarn Harlot.  Click here for her post on the BSJ.  Also, if you search online for 'BSJ row counts' you will find several charts people have posted to for keeping track of the rows - very helpful!
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I've linked this post up to Make it for Monday over @ Cottage Instincts.  Check it out!