When I saw this yarn in a shop called Wollig in Voorburg, Holland, I knew I wanted to bring it home. I loved the rich colours with the stonewashed appearance at first glance and the hand feel sealed the deal. Choosing between variants was hard. I went back and forth between the DK and worsted weights, but ultimately I decided the greater yardage and lighter weight of the DK gave me more options. It's called Scheepjes Stone Washed XL (50 g = 75 metres; 70% cotton, 30% acrylic).

As to colour, I vacillated on that as well and ended up with “Garnet.” Deep burgundy is definitely one of my go-tos, and I tell myself I should branch out, but it was a good choice this time around. When I go too far afield or too bright, I find I have to talk myself into wearing it every time. I wanted whatever I made from this yarn to be like comfort food, easy to choose and happy-making.

Which led to one of the criteria for the pattern I would choose. In addition to showing off the simple beauty of the yarn, I wanted an easy knit, something that would ensure I the feeling of relaxation was knit right into the project.

With the Honey Cowl, I knew I had it. Not boring, but so simple. And look at how the honeycomb-ish texture shows off the yarn on both right side and wrong side.

Although the pattern is written for DK yarn, and the Scheepjes Stonewashed XL is ostensibly DK, I had to make some adjustments. Instead of casting on 220, 190 was plenty for a cowl that would loop twice. I used a little more than 4 and a half skeins, guessing that's about 340 m or so.

Simple, cozy, waaay too warm to wear for a couple of months... it's perfect.