For the last couple of months, I have been noodling around during lunch at work with some small skeins of yarn that have been floating around the stash for a couple years. I did not have a plan for this yarn, and it didn’t seem to really go together except for being the same gauge and being of similar-ish color. Eventually, that noodling around resulted in a cowl.

The light yarn is Mango Moon’s Chakra, which is a fairly stiff cotton-based yarn strung with silver beads and stone chunks. The ball was about 75 yards. I found it in a bargain bin at one of the local yarn shops a couple years ago.

The darker yarn is a little sample skein of Lattes and Llamas Escape yarn, which is a mix of alpaca, wool and silk that is so relaxed it is all but unspun. This mini- skein is 83 yards. It came as an extra with a yarn subscription I had a few years ago.

And eventually, they wound up as a cowl! I’m not sure it’s entirely successful – the Mango Moon is pretty stiff, and the beads and stones make the thing pretty heavy. However, one of my coworkers has been pretty pointed about how it would make a great Christmas present for her, and how well it would go with her coat. So win-win! I get to clear out at least a little stash and make someone happy at the same time 🙂

I think the design is OK – it’s pretty basic, just messing around with garter stitch alternating with sort of checkerboard/basketweave sections. I may try it again with two yarns that are a little more suited to each other and see how that goes!