Thursday, June 15, 2017

A Fox Cowl


When the chunky Failynn Fox Cowl pattern crossed my path, I knew that I needed to make it.  (There is a crochet version, too!  Flint Fox Cowl.)  It is constructed out of super bulky yarn which meant it would be a fast project PLUS it was super adorable.


I made the toddler size and used KnitPicks Tuff Puff yarn in hand dyed by me orange (340 g, 150 yards), white (13 g, 6 yards) and black (26 g, 12 yards).  I dyed 4 balls (~400 yards) of the white tuff puff before starting this project since there wasn't a suitably foxy orange available at the time.  The nice thing about creating food coloring dyeing tutorials in my kitchen is that when a color I need is back ordered I try to create my own!


For the first time Lucky helped me wind the yarn into balls.  He kept winding the yarn and saying "I'm making a fox hat!"  If only a little crank was all it took!


The pattern is well written and this fun hooded cowl comes in multiple sizes.  I made one adjustment to the pattern.  After the last cowl decrease round I knit 22 sts and started doing the hood back and forth rows there.  This way the round beginning with the stripe would be on the back of the hood, not front and center.


I started using felted joins to add new balls of yarn after I realized that i would have ends to weave in near the edge of the hood.


While the hood was in progress I tried it on Lucky.  The hood measured 9.5" on the stockinette and I had knit 33 or 34 rows.  This seemed super short and I thought i would need to knit to the child size 12 inches, but then I tried it on him again a few rows later and it looked like it would close okay.  In the end I knit 43 rows that measured 11.5" before closing off the hood.


I love a project where I can try it on the intended recipient during the construction.  There was very little worry about it being too small!  (However, I was nervous about running out of yarn.  This is one of the downsides of using a custom hand dyed colorway!)  Lucky was so excited to put on his hood that he started howling, even without the ears.  



On the ears, I changed some of the decreases to SSk or P2tog-TBL where applicable so the decreases would be symmetric on either side of the ear.


I wasn't sure what the two rounds of SC crochet would add around the edge of the  hood but it really finished it off nicely. I think I have one ENORMOUS crochet hook somewhere, but the only hook I had on hand is a Size K, not the M recommended in the pattern.  I just made sure to keep my SC's really loose on the edge of the hood and around the ears.


By the time I finally knit and finished this hat it was springtime, there were very few cold days left. I think it might still fit Lucky another year (he wore the same hat for the third winter in a row this year) but if not then Rowdy will be able to wear it.  


Lucky has requested that I make him an elephant hat.  I will wait until the end of the summer before I start his new hat for next winter to make sure that he still wants to be an elephant.  


Lucky was so tiny when I knit him his first fox hat!  Even after wearing this for almost a whole winter the hat was in great shape for Rowdy to use this year.  


Also featured in this photo are the birthday shirts I made for Lucky and Rowdy this year.  I can't believe how much they've grown even since taking these photos just a few months ago!