BFF Cowl: What a Difference a Yarn Makes

I was happily knitting along on my BFF Cowl last week, but I have to be honest -- there were moments when I wasn't completely sure that this design was suited for Cascade Eco Duo. This is the first time I'm knitting with Eco Duo, and as much as I love how soft and natural it is, the yarn has a lot (and I mean a lot) of loft which had me wondering if my links were going to be too drapey in contrast to Gail's which are being knitted in Cascade Cloud.

Still, I finished Ysolda's link, soak it, blocked it, and was incredibly happy with how it turned out. I then turned to Stephanie's link and hit a wall ... again ... and again ... and again.  I cast on and frogged that link no fewer than five times and kept wondering what I was doing wrong when I started to pay closer attention to the yarn and realized that the Eco Duo had barely any twist and was starting to unravel and fall apart. Back to my stash I went and fortunately found my skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca in cream. Since Gail's links are knit with an Alpaca blend, I want to make sure my links are, too.

Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Cream

 What a difference a yarn makes! I cast on and my needles went flying.

So, lesson number one in my new journey to mindful knitting: even with small projects like accessories, swatch different types of yarns for different types of pattern stitches.  Not every stitch pattern works well or looks good in any type of yarn ... duh!

P.S.  I'm participating in Blogtoberfest again as it was such a fun experience last year.  If you'd like to join along, click on the cute Blogtoberfest button on the right for more information.