Outlander- the neckwarmer

In my long term plans there is a whole set (or several set) of Oulander style clothes... I even have the  fabric for many pieces, but I admit, I even had the yarn for the neckwarmer for quite a while (okay, like three or more years? I most probably bought the 4 balls of Andes yarn at one of the last Drops Wool supersale at Barka.

And I would never thought that the neckwarmer will be the firts piece I make. 

It has so many things that would tell me why I should not knit it. For example, for the longest time I did not like neckwarmers (I know, you wouldn't know, seeing how many of them I knitted lately.)

It is thick. I mean really thick. I don't really like thick yarns, and the Andes yarn is not the thinnest one to beginn with, and I used it doubled up. I am use dto knit with sock yarn and thinner, and it is not often that I knit with worsted oe thicker. I didn't even had thick enough needles, I had to go to the second store, and I picked up the thickest needle I found there. I suppose the needles are about 8 mm thick. The knitted piece, is still less chunky than most of the "outlander cowls", but this is as far as I will ever go with thickness. 

It is kitchenenered, the grafting I think is genious, but keep forgetting. Every darned time I have to do it, I need to look it up. (Yes, you can see the grafting on my shoulder. I could have hidden it, but I did not. Intentionally.).

And last but not least, it is knitted with garter stitch. I do not hate it, but I strongly dislike garter stitch, and I avoid it, if I can. Its okay for edges, but I am really not found of it. However the original was knitted with garter stitch, and so did I. 

With my whole Outlander project "Screen accuracy" is not my goal. I do not want to copy, but I want to make pieces that will evoke the Outlander mood. Claire's coloring (on the pic below) is totally different from mine, her clothes are warn earthy colors. I will see how can I change that so, that the mood will still say recognizable...

 Knitting the thing was easy, cast on with a provisional cast on technique. a number of stitches, knit with garter stitch until you are almost run out of yarn (or your piece is long enough) and then open teh provisional cats on and graft the two sides with kitchener stitch, makng sure there is a half twist between the two ends. 

Yarn: Drops Andes, 4 balls

Needle: 8 mm circular 

Photos: Norbert Varga

(Claire's picture is from the Internet)