crochet monday

i hope everyone had a great weekend and managed to stay cozy! 

we had a few winter flurries around here and i was so happy to have finished my cowl neck scarf & revised bow headband before the northern wind hit. the charcoal cowl pictured above is my first attempt at a yokoo-inspired chunky cowl. i used hooked & chained's "mammoth cowl" pattern and splurged on a luxurious merino wool yarn blend - 98% merino wool / 2% polyamide. i made a couple of small mistakes at the very beginning but the design of the cowl makes them impossible to see. it was fun learning a new stitch - back post double crochet - and making something that actually took a couple of weeks to complete. what a gratifying feeling!

overall, i'm pretty happy with how it turned out. i was hoping for a much larger, chunkier cowl but i love how incredibly warm and compact this one ended up. next time, i'll make sure to add some length & width to this scarf in addition to using a larger hook (maybe a "Q" or "S" instead of an "L".) the stitches are so darn tight in this cowl there's no room to breathe - i've realized i'm a bit of an uptight crocheter and need to loosen up and relax so my projects turn out the right size! i actively worked on loosening up my stitches with the revised headband, also pictured, and am happy to say things are turning out much nicer. 

you might remember my first bow headband - i used an easy-to-follow people webs tutorial but ended up with a smaller bow than i'd hoped for (probably due to my uptight crocheting again!) for my revised bow headband, i switched yarn type and color and went with bernat satin yarn (100% acrylic) in black & red for a really strong hello kitty effect! i also added five extra stitches to the bow to make it extra big. i wanted the headband to just blend into my hair so that the oversize bow was even more accentuated and over-the-top and hello-kitty-like. i'm super thrilled with how it came out - this winter is going to be so much fun!

xoxo

☆ c. emilia ☆