Knitting a snood ...

We're enjoying country walks in between the showers. Today was pretty good. We managed two long hikes with only one change of clothes. For England, in February 2014, that's not a bad innings!

Anyway I've been wanting to make something that would be a bit more spring-like, but with the weather having been so spectacularly uncooperative I've not managed to stray very far away from warm and woolly. I like to think that the colour I've chosen is a little bit spring-like. I mean at least it's a pastel colour, which is supposed to be on-trend for spring, right?

Here's the wool I chose:

It's by quince&co, who say on the label that it's '100% American Wool'. I really must say that it's been a total delight to work with. It doesn't split easily, and the colour is just the business. Perfect for what I had in mind. It's called 'Bird's Egg' and the colour code is 106. I bought mine from the lovely Loop shop in Islington. They do a really good mail order service if you can't visit them in person. In any event you can find them here: Loop Knitting Shop

Talking of which, this is what I set out to create:

What do you think?

I'm really enjoying the warm, snugly simplicity of it!

You can wear it as a long single loop, which looks very laid back and casual. Or if you're facing a blistering northerly wind, you can double it up for extra warmth. Either way I think it's a great look.

If you'd like to make one it's easy-peasy. Here's what you need, and here's how to do it:

Materials

2 skeins/ 340 yards or 310 metres of Aran/ 10 ply wool
1 pair of American size 11 circular  needles (metric size 8 mm/ imperial size 0) with a cord of approximately 80 cm/ 31 inches between the two needles

Method 

Cast on 195 stitches and mark the end of the row with a piece of wool in a contrasting colour so that you know where each row ends. (This should produce a snood that measures about 48 inches/ 122 cm around, depending upon the tension of your work.)

1st row: *knit 3, bring the wool to the front of the needle as though you were about to do a purl stitch and slip a stitch, return yarn to other side*. Repeat from * to * across the row, end with knit 3.
2nd row: knit 1, *bring wool to the front as though you were about to do a purl stitch and slip a stitch, bring wool to other side and knit 3*. Repeat from * to * across the row until the final stitch. End with a slip 1, knit 1.

Repeat these two rows until your work measures whatever width you would like it to measure. I made mine 9 inches/ 23 cm wide, which is a good width for the doubling-up look as it doesn't become too bulky around the neck.

Cast off, weave in your ends and admire your snood.


Enjoy!

Bonny x