Finished Object: Firehouse Alley Cowl

I knew the Firehouse Alley Cowl had to be mine the moment I saw the photography for knit.wear Fall/Winter 2016. It’s been a while since then, and I have finally finished it.

This fingering-weight lace cowl by Bonnie Sennott was everything I wanted in a project: easy to knit, repetitive enough that I didn’t need to constantly refer to a pattern, and perfect to knit while watching Netflix and attending meetings.

Easy-to-remember texture and lace patterns provide a fun yet calmly repetitive project. Because I worked on my cowl only while attending meetings at work or watching shows at home, it took longer to complete than other projects I’ve worked on. But I finished it comfortably before fall arrives.

I found a challenge in the lace grafting at the end but Joni Coniglio, our resident grafting-master, helped me and the graft is so good I can’t even find the ends!

I would recommend this project to just about anyone, but I would like to make a suggestion: you should pick a yarn you really like knitting with because you will be working on this project for a while.

I love that the Firehouse Alley Cowl can be knit from only 2 skeins of fingering-weight yarn. I used Cloudborn Highland Fingering which has a generous 494 yards per skein. It has a lovely squish to it—despite being a fingering weight—and is stretchy enough to easily complete the p3 stitch within the lace chart. (Check out more about this yarn here.)

I’ve mentioned how fortunate I am to have in-house experts to teach me at work, but —you can learn from them, too. If you’re new to lace grafting or just need a refresher, check out Joni’s video grafting series, The Definitive Guide to Grafting. This video grafting guide is so informative and thorough that you’ll never need to buy another grafting reference. Joni covers grafting for many different stitches, including stockinette, reverse stockinette, garter stitch, ribbing, cables, and lace.

I can’t wait to wear this cowl through fall, winter, and even spring. Have any of you made the Firehouse Alley Cowl? What was knitting it like for you?

Happy Knitting,

—Sarah

Get Started on the Firehouse Alley Cowl

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