Speaking of owls...

Oddly enough, I have another owl project to share with you today. I actually finished the Owls sweater (by Kate Davies) for my teenager about a month ago. The short review: I love it!

Cammy loves her owl sweater!

This pattern had been in my Ravelry queue for quite a while. I hemmed and hawed about making myself a pullover because it is just not practical for someone who works in an office. There are two temps at my place of work: freezing or boiling so cardigans are generally my sweater of choice. I was bummed because these owls are so damn cute! And then my teenage daughter saw the pattern, and fell (like a ton of bricks) in love.

I ordered the yarn spec'd in the pattern, Rowan Purelife Sheep Breeds Chunky, in Steel Grey Suffolk from Webs, one of my favorite online yarn resources.

I got the package of yarn in the mail and tore into it - ready to get started on this fun pattern. Immediately, I loved the color...then I noticed...the smell. Yeah, when they say natural, undyed yarn, they ain't playin'. This stuff smelled like a barn. I was sort of horrified that I spent so much money on yarn that stank up the house and, while I figured I could handle working with the stuff, I couldn't imagine my daughter being willing to smell like a farm animal. I'm pretty sure her boyfriend wouldn't appreciate it either.  So, I called the good folks at Webs at told them my dilemma. They hooked me up with a fiber expert who explained that this particular yarn could be a bit "sheepy"(yeah...they aren't kidding) and that I had two options: I could exchange the yarn for something else, or, I could keep it and wash my finished garment in Dawn dishwashing liquid. I decided to take my chances with option two and I'm glad that I did.

This yarn knits up like a dream. It feels great in your hands and, after blocking, relaxes into shape beautifully. Best of all, the Dawn dish washing liquid did the trick - it took away about 85% of the smell. For what it's worth, I prefer to use a more environmentally friendly soap for my dishes but, in this case, I needed the degreasing power of Dawn to break down the lanolin so I relented and bought a small bottle just for this purpose. If anyone has any suggestions of a more "natural" soap that would have the same effectiveness as Dawn for this use, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Regardless, once the smell was minimized, I can honestly say that I would use this yarn again in a heartbeat.

I love these clever owls!

The Owls pattern itself is so much fun. First of all, who doesn't love chunky yarn and size 10.5 needles? I made good progress every time I sat down to knit. This sweater was done a lot quicker than any other I have knitted. The pattern itself was clear and easy to read, there is no wonder it is so popular on Ravelry (4226 projects listed!) If I make this pattern again, I might go down a size. The sweater is supposed to be form-fitting and it ended up a little roomier than expected on my daughter. But, she loves it and I loved knitting it.

So, you might be asking yourself, what took me so long to write about this? Well, blame it on the weather (we blame a lot on the weather in Wisconsin!) It's not easy to get a teenage girl to model a chunky wool sweater outdoors when it's 95 degrees. But today it is only 85 which means...picture time!

I made my child model this sweater in 85 degree weather.

Overall, for me, this project was a love-fest between the yarn and pattern. I definitely recommend it to all my knitting friends out there. If you are looking for a warm, cute pullover...give this one a shot.

Have a great weekend!

–Cassandra