Autumn 2012 Accessories: Day 2

I want to thank everyone for the positive comments and response yesterday to the introduction of my accessories collection. Let's move forward today to the second design:

Enveloped Cowl

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are times when the perfect stitch pattern comes together with the perfect yarn in a great design achieving fashion accessory harmonic convergence. Based on the feedback from all three of my models, the Enveloped Cowl seems to fit that bill. Each loved wearing this incredibly soft, lush and warm cowl - thanks to the superwash merino cashmere yarn. I love the fact that this stitch pattern, incorporating broomstick lace, is incredibly easy to memorize (which fact is confirmed by my test stitchers) yet looks like you expended all kinds of crafty energy.

 

The Enveloped is also a testament to the power of a few well-conceived details: the cowl 's edging, while an easy three rows, delivers a big design wallop; and the buttons along one edge increase the styling possibilities. The key is to choose lightweight buttons - heavy button material would negatively weigh down that side.

For those of you who may not have yet tried broomstick lace, I share with you this nugget: both of my cowl testers had not attempted the technique prior to this test. I posed the opportunity to each of them; they both took up the challenge based virtually on my word that it was easy-peasy. As you'll see next week (when I showcase one of the resulting cowls), they were more than up to the task. This written pattern contains a good amount of visual aids that will nicely augment all of the web broomstick lace resources. In a phrase? Just dooooo iiiiiiittttt.