Cris-cross hat and neck warmer... plus a cowl!

I've been meaning to share this with you and not doing it for so long....

they come back from January, or early February... you might remember a few pics of the neck warmer from a collage I made back then.

So I finished my neck warmer... I had seen a similar version in a blog written in Portuguese and I kind of can translate and understand it when it's written, but the instructions weren't right... so I looked around the web, books and (of course!) Ravelry, and found ideas that could work... so I made up my "own" pattern.
I used size 17 needles (BIG!) and 2 strands held together of Vintage Chunky (what a surprise, ha?) held together... actually I was looking what to make with a skein of that color that we had bought last year in May when we went to visit Rochester... I sill haven't found a project to do with the magenta color...
Anyway, the cowl is nice, thick and chunky and very warm... and it ended up needing another ball!!! luckily my adored yarn store had it.... I added some buttons and voilá.

 

When I tried to follow the instructions on said Portuguese blog, I had a very different stitch... and the main reason was that the cris-cross look requires the crossing of stitches of course, but also to do so alternating a row of knit and a row of purl.

The Portuguese was only doing the knit rows... which looked interesting but it wasn't what I wanted. So when I finished with that one, I made another cowl... with Debbie Bliss Cash merino Aran, that it's a dream, light, super soft and warm... lo.ve.ly!!!

I loved, loved, loved the result and I've been wearing it often. (the other one not so much as it is in display at the shop, I'm having a free class on it at the end of March)
Here's a close up of the texture!

Finally... I decided to go with the cris-cross neck warmer because I wanted to make this crocheted hat that I found on Ravelry... a free pattern from Tara Murray. I LOOOOVE her patterns... she writes them clearly and for hats usually for all sizes, from new-born to adult.
And they are always fun and lovely...

It took almost 2 skeins of Vintage worsted... it is SUPER thick and dense, almost heavy... but really warm which is perfect when it's really cold outside.
I wasn't sure at the beginning and I didn't know if to continue or rip it out... I'm glad I did and I think the orange bottom adds a nice touch to it. I didn't make the bottom band either.

It's only one strand but you take up several loops until you have that thick stitch... the only thing I didn't like is that it needs to be done back and forth, turning the work on each row, it can't be done in the round, so the joining place is totally obvious... and I don't like it.
Other than that I love it!

Happy weekend!!

See you soon!
S.