HSM #9: Brown, 1933 Asymmetric Cowl

I finished my little asymmetric neck cowl from 1933 sometime last week, but it has been too hot to put it on, even for a photograph.  The weather finally cooled down significantly overnight, and this morning was deliciously cool.  I had several knitted items to photograph, but it is trash day, so our street is full of recycling containers and trash bags, plus we are bracing for Pope-mageddon, so everything is in a tizzy today.  So I went out back instead.  

But back to the cowl.  I found it on Dottie Angel's blog a few months ago and knew I wanted to make it at some point.  When my original plans for the brown challenge fell by the wayside (and I focused my fall sewing more tightly after starting Project 333) a brown neck cowl seemed the perfect little thing for this crazy month.  She used a Australian pattern from 1933, and wrote intelligible directions for it, so I used her method.  The only thing I don't care for about the pattern is that the buttonhole is pretty far from the edge, and is also quite large.  I guess those honking big buttons from those 1930s button cards I have are good for this type of project!  I ended up needing to add another small button to attach the edge because of the button hole placement, but I like the additional asymmetry.  Dottie Angel had to do the same thing, so I was prepared for the possibility.

It is a basic garter stitch scarflet, with knitted decreases at about the half way point.  I could possibly have made the scarf a smidge wider, to make it a bit more dramatic, but given that my neck is rather short, the smaller roll-over collar looks better this way, I think.  I used some random vintage brownish buttons I had in my button bin to finish it off.  It was a nice quick and easy project that was a nice little stash buster--I had some lava Swish yarn left over from last year's gauntlet project (they are still my favorites!) and now I have a nice little coordinating neck warmer too! (I have a separate post cooking on the green sweater; stay tuned!)

The Challenge: Brown

What is it? Asymmetric Neck Cowl

Fabric: 1.5 balls of 100% merino superwash wool, Swish from Knit Picks, in Lava

Pattern: 10 July 1933 Novel Cowl, from the Queensland Times (Ipswich)

Year: 1933

Notions: 2 vintage buttons

How historically accurate is it? 8/10--I'm pretty sure superwash wool wasn't available in 1933, but the pattern is from a newspaper clipping, and the findings are vintage (couldn't say for certain they are from the 1930s, but they are old, possibly 1940s) Knitting pins were bamboo, which may or may not be accurate.

Hours to complete: It was a quick project--maybe a handful of naptimes? 6 hours? I felt like I finished this project in two or three days.

First worn: September 21, 2015 for photographs. I'll probably wear it a lot more as the weather has started to change.

Total cost: $9