I finished a cowl!

Project: Malachite Lorelei

Pattern: Lorelei

Designer: Sivia Harding

Available: $6 as a single pattern, or $26 for the 7-pattern collection

Yarn: The Fibre Company Road to China Light in “Malachite”

Beads: 6/0 Czech round seed beads; dark bronze with some kind of opaque rainbow finish

Another great cowl from Sivia Harding! I am very glad that I bought the whole collection :).  This one starts as a mobius, and transitions to a round cowl (much like another of her designs, Harmonia’s Rings, but on a smaller scale).  I took the opportunity to work with Road to China Light for the first time … um, wow.  Now this is a yarn I’ve been petting and visiting at the shop for quite some time — it is so, so, so soft, with gorgeous undulating tonal hues.  But the alpaca/silk/camel/cashmere combo means that it is wicked warm and felts if you look at it funny.

Just as an example, I wound both skeins into cakes at the same time.  The 2nd cake rolled around in my project bag for about a month while I worked through the first cake.  The strands of yarn on the outside of the 2nd cake were felted to each other, just from this mild agitation. This isn’t a yarn I could use for a garment — it would surely condense into rigid felt at the mere thought of sweaty armpits.  But for a cowl — it is delightful! Perfect!