Scaphandre, my gigantic new cowl/capelet

I’m usually always SO cold when working inside on the computer all day. I’d be wrapping shawls and vests and things around my neck and bury my head in hooded sweaters… but I needed something more practical, and have been hunting Raverly for the perfect cowl/capelet pattern…
As usual I found tons of cool ones, but not the “perfect one” : it had to be crocheted, pretty, and come high up around my neck. You guessed it: I ended up making up my own pattern.
Then came the hunt for the perfect yarn in my gigantic stash. Worsted weight type yarns wouldn’t do, it had to be warmer than that. Mohair ? maybe, but getting mohair too close from my nose/mouth would soon get annoying…

Then I saw those huge granny squares I crocheted a few months ago from yarn upcycled from a thrifted blankie : superbulky, pretty, warm for sure… By then I had already decided on a granny-square base for my cowl (what else ? I’m still SO in a total-granny-square kick !! 😛 ) so I started working on it in a flash.
The first tries were … encouraging. But it took a lot of unraveling and recrocheting (over 2 days) to get finally to the cowl of my dreams. Good thing the yarn wasn’t too fragile and I’m using a 15 mm (size Q ?) hook, so the actual crocheting wasn’t that long…

Now it’s finished and I totally LOVE it. So warm, so pretty, so exactly what I needed. Have been wearing it tons since I finished it last week-end, both indoors while working on the comp, and outside as a mini-poncho now that the weather’s getting slightly warmer.. I even wore it yesterday for our SnB meeting !! 😀 I especially love how the cowl can stand high up to my nose and ears if I’m really cold. Or I can push it down for a more “normal” look…

Here’s a blurry pic of the pretty felted soaps we made last week with the girls thanks to that tutorial. So fun and easy. We’re definitively making more soon, I already bought more soaps.. 😉

What else.. I finally sent the Newletter to announce the release of the pattern for the Altay hat.
I’m getting REALLY tired these days from doing too many things… If I were reasonable I’d stop even thinking of new designs! 😛
That grey and blue hat was made in a couple hours during the week-end for one of the daycare ladies, who asked for one in those colors… I keep on being surprised at how quick they are to crochet… 🙂

Oh, and my Etsy store has just hit the “300 sales”.. 😀 While I’m totally aware that I would need to spend a LOT more time and energy on it to sell more, so far I’ve always enjoyed spending whatever little I have on crafting and designing new things instead… So I’m just happy with whatever little success I get !! 🙂