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1 May 2017

April's Cowl - Scheepjes Eliza



Hello Blog, I've neglected you again..


Neglect is a harsh word.  Having time to blog, or a reason to blog has been hard with commissions and test knitting that all have 'top secret' stamped on them, it means that I can't show you the things I've been working on or shout about the amazing yarns I've been using.. until now.

Eight days ago my son asked if I could knit an Overwatch Beanie for him to gift a friend for her Birthday.  Absolutely, I can knit beanies with my eyes closed.. adding an Overwatch symbol may be tricky.  It proved too tricky.  Too tricky in the time frame of 7 days and too tricky for my patience levels when I am still up to my eyeballs in test knitting.

Fortunately a delivery from Wool Warehouse saved the day! I love how Wool Warehouse do that! We'd just discovered April's favourite colours when the perfect colour literally landed in my lap.

The perfect colour in a yarn I'd not yet used.  Meet Scheepjes Eliza!


I have to admit curiosity made me buy this to try,  It's 100% polyester and I tend to steer clear of polyester, it has a bad reputation.  Scheepjes promote this yarn as being as soft as silk. I trust Scheepjes and  by now you all know I'm a die hard Scheepjes Junkie and I will try anything of theirs.

Silk isn't perhaps the word I'd use to describe this yarn although it's super smooth.  Soft?  Oh it's Soft!!  Baby bunny soft!  Baby chicken soft!  Kitten soft.. It's ALL the baby animals soft and lets throw in as smooth as a baby's bum!


Can you see the soft?  I wish you could touch it, this yarn is about to give polyester a whole new reputation!

But I digress.. the soft will do that to you, you'll want to sit there stroking it, squishing it, rubbing it against your face ( I know you do that to yarn, you can't deny it!)

Back to the cowl.  Once my son had seen and felt the yarn we decided it would make a perfect cowl/neck warmer.. it's the soft, this soft against your skin.. it's SOFT.  We chose the colour Rollerskate because it fitted in with April's favourite colours of Blue, Teal and 'Seafoam"

April is a wee little slip of a teenage girl so I didn't want something super big and bulky that would dwarf her, just something nice and warm and snuggly.  Size was also dependent upon the fact that I had about 48 hours to get this knitted, washed, blocked and dried.


Eliza comes in 100gm balls with the iconic Scheepjes Easy Start tab.  I used about 55gms for this cowl. If I'd had time I may have made a headband to match with what I had left from the one ball.

I didn't use an existing pattern for something this quick and simple,  it was a matter of casting on and knitting until I had the height that I wanted.


Here's how I did it.

1 x ball of Scheepjes Eliza
4.00mm circular needle (80cm cable for magic loop method)
Darning needle for sewing in ends.
6.00mm needle (optional)

If you want to make a bigger cowl, cast on any amount of stitches in an even number.
I suggest that you weigh your yarn before starting, and again at the end of row 11.  By doing this you will know how much yarn you have used, the same amount will be needed for the final rib and cast off.

CO: 100 stitches using long tail cast on method
Join in the round being careful not to twist your stitches.

R1: *k1, p1* to the end of the round
Repeat Row 1 9 more times.

R 11: knit
Repeat Row 11 49 times.

R 61: *k1, p1* to the end of the round
Repeat Row 61 9 more times.

BO: Bind off in your preferred stretchy bind off method.  Alternatively bind off loosely using a size 6.00mm needle.

Give it a gentle wash with your preferred wool wash, I use Eucalan.  Block the cowl to neaten it up a bit and you're done. This cowl measured 23cm x 23cm after very gentle blocking with little stretching involved.  Blocking was more to straighten up the edges after washing.






Scheepjes Eliza comes in a range of 36 colours and is available at Scheepjes Retailers and Wool Warehouse*



* Affiliate link


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