Magma Gardens Cowl

On Sunday, Mountain Man and I drove out to Magma Gardens, which is another of the awesome, other-wordly climbing areas in Queen Creek.


The day was definitely on the cool side, with gusty winds whipping around the rocks, so I was pleased as punch that I'd finished knitting a cowl on the drive there. The photograph doesn't really show it off well -- it's unblocked, and I had to settle for the first snapshot we took since the camera ran out of batteries -- but I'm super smiley happy with how it came out in real life.


It's in 'Lanica,' which is the beautiful, naturally-dyed, organic merino yarn from Fleece Artist. I love this yarn. If I could pick one yarn to knit with constantly, this might be it. It's a loosely spun single, softer than Manos but stronger than Malabrigo, and I wanted to design a cowl for a single skein of it. I adapted grapevine lace (essentially print o' the wave lace without the lines between the vines) to work in the round, and then I added a bobbled border.

The curving, rounded lines of the lace reminded me of the manzanita shrubs that grow with abandon all through this area.


I'm blocking the cowl tonight, so expect fresh photos and maybe even a pattern soon enough!