still knitting: Patterned legwarmers in Outlaw Vanitas

I had my eye on this pattern ages ago when I was living in Flagstaff and bought the yarn there.  Weirdly the instructions for the cast on convinced me that I didn't know how to do it, and that held me back for a solid year before I discovered the cast on she meant is the normal one I always do. 

It is a free pattern on Ravelry. (here)
I finally started knitting them over Christmas.  But the yarn was too pretty and I didn't think it suited them so I frogged. (You can see that one over on Ravelry if you are curious.)

Only after a bit did I realise my endless stash of Outlaw Vanitas DK was here to save the day.  It suited them perfectly.  The first legwarmer took a long time and I kept losing grasp of the pattern.  Because it's full of holes anyway you really can't tell if they are in the right place, and that realisation was what kept me going.  I knew I'd love them even if they weren't perfect, and that's a good motivation.

I knitted them one set of repeats shorter than the pattern recommended as I figured that was about how I wanted them. 

The second legwarmer went really fast! 
I used the needles recommended by the pattern and was happy with the results; the whole matter took about 1.25 skeins of the endless yarn. 

I have recently decided to knit more.  Partly because my lifestyle is likely to be increasingly unstable for awhile and I can't take sewing with me, but also because I have a new Life Goal which is to make the Rose Cardigan.  Naturally, I have built up a 10 project queue of the Things to Learn before I am ready to tackle the cardi.  Yes I know I could just dive in and go for it but I feel like my knitting tolerance is low and my frustration builds really easily when things don't work out.  I've tried really hard in the past year to build up my skills in slow steps so I'll keep doing that.

Mistake Rib Cowl by Purl Soho in Outlaw Vanitas

So what to knit?  I finished my nice legwarmers which I immediately put on and didn't take off for about a month.

I liked the idea of this cowl, which is a free pattern, as a way of practicing pattern.  I also wanted to make the Thorn Cowl but it is 5 feet long wtf??  So I thought I could judge by one cowl how much to shrink the pattern of the second one.  I am still not convinced about cowls for me but as a backup there are lots of other people that like them!  I thought this pattern would be really nice and particularly covet the scarf in the purl soho pictures but a scarf seemed too endless and I wouldn't really wear it daily in Nepal.

The yarn is Outlaw Vanitas (on Ravelry here), the colour is transience.  I really like working with this yarn.  It's beautiful and soft.  The pale ice blue is a lovely colour.  I had considered making the Purl Soho pullover with this yarn but wasn't sure it's the right size, plus it seemed like too big of a project to jump right into.

So, the cowl is pretty easy.  I used the same size needles as the pattern suggests, and it's quite boring and seemed to take forever.

Also I'm not sure why I love Purl Soho so much but I really am inspired by their ideas!  No affiliate links from me, never fear.

At the end I was ready to be done - made it 12 inches as 15 seemed overkill.  This definitely will be a gift.  Still not sold on cowls.

However I do love the depth that the pattern gives and eventually, when I'm cold and have time, I will probably make the scarf for myself! 

And here's Holly in the cowl - she was stoked with her gift!