Last year, I shared a post about the Knitmas gift exchange and what I made for ALifeOfHerOwn in 2015. I briefly mentioned the Mulled Cranberry Cowl, but wanted to go into the process of knitting it in more detail after a friend recently asked me how it has the colors it does given I used two different yarns.
Because this was knit as a gift, I chose her favourite autumnal colorway for the yarn. I knitted a swatch for gauge and liked the snugger gauge to block wind, though I was seriously tempted to go up a size for slouch factor. I ultimately used 9mm circular knitting needles.
I used Lion Brand Hometown USA Solids & Neons in Napa along with Rico Design Creative Melange Super Chunky in Red-Purple variegated to create the colors. One yarn was a gradient variegated one and the other was a solid in a color within the other yarn.
I felt like the Melange’s 100 meters was ample, until I got knitting. There was a point when I realized I really wanted an ample cowl just an inch or two longer than what I would end up with, so I brought in another yarn, in a solid coordinating color.
When I reached the coordinating color in the variegated yarn knitting, I brought in the solid for a few alternating rows then every third row to phase it out, before returning to the variegated. This allowed the cowl to be longer than using just the single skein alone without having it look disconnected in colors. The effect is like a canyon sunset or all the layers of mulled cider and cranberry sauce for a holiday feast.
You can see in this close-up here how the red shifts to a plum and then I brought in the Napa for alternating rows.
So, the next time you have a project and it is one stripe short of the right length, bring in a coordinating color in a yarn of the same weight.
Project Summary:
- Pattern: My personal pattern, unpublished
- Wool: Lion Brand Hometown USA Solids & Neons in Napa
Rico Design Creative Melange Super Chunky in Red-Purple - Balls: 1.1
- Knitting needles: 9mm circular