Raising the Bar

I tried making a cowl for a friend of mine for Christmas, and it would have ended well. She loved it. It was long and loopy; could be worn like a giant fiber necklace or twisted in two and worn a little closer to the neck when it was really cold. It was Lion Brand's amazing yarn in strawberry fields. And I figured that, with only 10% wool in it, my friend's allergy to animal fibers wouldn't be a problem. So little wool...  Such a big reaction. She started itching immediately. So the best gift turned into one of the worst. We stopped at Natural Stitches and I handed her hanks of alpaca, angora and super wash merino, hoping maybe the allergy was limited to el cheapo wool. To no avail; every animal fiber. So we found an acrylic she liked instead.

She's waiting for her results for the bar exam for Pennsylvania and we've been running together when the weather isn't subzero ( which hasn't been lately ). I've been running with my purple cowl over my face (it's cold. My lungs don't like it). But I think I like this better, its leas drapey. I'm calling it Raising Thue Bar. It was knit in the round on US 9/ 5.5mm circular needles. It's cast on in a multiple of 10 stitches - I did 90 for something that would stand up on its own and hug the face a little bit.  Begun in garter stitch, there's four rows of garter for the basis of picot trim (row 5 is *k2tog yo*) and four more rows of garter. Then five rows of double rib (*k2p2*). 

And then I don't know what the stitch is called, but it's a five stitch, five row repeat and creates a spiral: 

R1: *k4, p1*

R2: *k3, p1,k1*

R3: *k2, p1, k2*

R4: *k1, p1, k3*

R5: *p1, k4*

Repeat rows 1-5 until desired length is reached. Double rib 5 rows. Garter stitch 4, fifth row *k2tog, yo*, garter stitch 4 rows. Cast off.