Breaking the Rules Cowl

Well hello there!  I thought that I'd share a little crochet pattern of something that I whipped up for the upcoming fall/winter.  It's a new cowl!  Aren't ya excited?  Yeah.  That's what I thought.


Now it's been a super long time since I've dabbled in crochet and I have to be honest, my crochet pattern writing skills leave much to be desired.  That being said, I'm making the attempt anyway.

 

Breaking The Rules Cowl

Breaking the Rules Cowl

Hook: 5.5mm
Yarn: worsted to aran  (This pattern is awesome for use with handspun yarn as well)
Stitches Used: Chain, Single Crochet, Double Crochet

To Begin:

Chain 45 stitches.  Turn work.

Section One

*Skip the first chain stitch. SC into the back loop (doing this gives you the ribbing effect) of the 2nd ch and then doing the same into the following stitches until you reach the end of the row.  Ch 1 and turn work. *  repeat until the work measures approximately 6.5 inches.  Now this number is not set in stone.  Notice the word approximately.  If you go over that's ok.  This is a practical work of art, not rocket science folks.    At this point, the length of my work measures about 14 inches.  If it is shorter or longer in length, don't worry, we'll adjust it later.

At the end of the last row, chain 1 and then you will rotate your work to your right so that you will be starting the next row on the short end of your work.  Now this is where the crochet purists may have fits, but let's live dangerously and break some rules shall we? 

Section Two

In the nooks and crannies of the end of your work, pick up and Single Crochet 20 stitches or as many as you need to get to the end of the row.  That's right, it's more approximating magic.  I'm good at that. 

Continue SC rows until that part of the work measures *2 inches. 

*Now.  Remember where I said that we'd adjust the length later?  If your work was originally longer than the 14 inches, only crochet enough rows to get you to the 16 inch mark.  If you need to crochet more or less, that's fine.  Just get to your goal of 2 inches.  Bind off.

Section Three

Repeat Section Two again on the opposite side of the work, but do NOT bind off at the end.  Instead, chain 2 and turn work.

Double Crochet in each of the back loop of the previous row's Single Crochet stitches.   At the end of the row, bind off.  This row will act as your button holes. 

At this point, the work measures 18 inches total in length and 6.5 inches in width. 

Section Four

On the Section Two side of your work, attach buttons.   I used 4 vintage 1 inch buttons.  You can use more or less buttons, it's up to you.  There are plenty of button holes on the other side to accommodate quite a few buttons.

Now, put on that nice toasty warm cowl and go break some more rules!

Emperor The Youngest Palpatine

Well hello there!  I'm back after an extended, unplanned and totally needed vacation!  Not a real vacation mind you, just one from the blog.  Life interfered just a bit and threw off my blogging mojo.  Unfortunately, I'm out of the daily writing habit so bear with me as I jump back in. 

Here's something I wanted to share with you.  A few weeks ago, my son's friend had a birthday party.  Make that a Star Wars birthday party.  Well,  The Youngest, being the creative rock star that he is, decided that he could only attend this party if he was allowed to be The Emperor.  I was a little daunted by this task.  I mean, have you seen the Emperor?  His face is wrinkled, craggly, bumpy and just plain ugly!  But out came the face paints and we got to it.

This is what we came up with:  Facepaint + Cape with hood = Instant Emperor Palpatine!


Here's The  Youngest holding up the picture that I used for inspiration.

 And of course, the obligatory action shot:

The costume that he is wearing is the robes that went to an alien costume and the cape and hood are an adult size.  He loves how the cape trails behind him and how the hood drapes over his face.  Not bad huh?  He was very pleased and if he's pleased, then I'm pleased.  :)