Zig Zag Cowl

pattern: 1-Skein Zig Zag Cowl, by Heather Walpole
yarn: Ewe Ewe Yarn Ewe So Sporty (145y/133m per 50g) - one full skein used
needles: size US 6 / 4.25 mm

My darling friend Casie takes the most amazing photos for me - of my hats, of hand knits in general, and even of my gorgeous family. A phenomenal photographer, she is also amazingly generous, and won't let me pay her a penny for all the photos she takes. So I'm trying to get sneaky, making her things on occasion as a way to pay her at least a bit for all she does.

The Zig Zag Cowl is one such "payment", and it worked out more perfectly than I could have imagined. Heather of Ewe Ewe Yarns had sent me a kit for the cowl not that long ago, but I am not much of a cowl wearer. So I wasn't sure who to make this for, when Casie tagged me on an Instagram photo of a white cowl with a very similar texture to this one. Lightbulb!

The cowl itself was a quick and fun knit. You work the directions two full times to get the zig zag shape, and it is truly a one-skein project. In truth, I was only able to get within four rows of the full two repeats of the pattern, but you literally cannot tell I left two rows off.

My gauge was a slight bit different from the pattern's instructions, because my size 6 needles are 4.25mm instead of the typical 4.0mm. I  have no idea how I managed that one, but because of the miniscule needle size difference, which I thought wouldn't matter in the least, I ran out of yarn a wee bit early. I could have squeezed one more row out of the yarn, but didn't have enough to do the bind-off in a non-yarn over row, so I had to leave some yarn wasted, which was a huge bummer. But like I said, you can't tell in the least that the last zig zag set is shorter, so I'm cool with it.

Casie is in love with her cowl, and grabbed her niece to model for a few photos the other day. I love how happy McKenna is all the time (and gorgeous to boot!), and how much she loves modeling for knitting photos. Almost all my friends have relinquished their hat modeling duties to her, and I'm totally fine with it! Although it does add another person to my "pay with hand knits" list ...