FO Friday: Gradient Starshower Cowl

Earlier this summer, I purchased my first-ever gradient yarn cake while visiting The Studio in Kansas City. They just happened to be hosting a trunk show from Apple Tree Knits, and I absolutely couldn't resist grabbing a skein of Plush Fingering in a pretty purple-to-blue gradient. Unbelievably, this is the only photo I took of this yarn before casting on, and I have to say it's not my best effort, nor is it my favorite (But hey, free Royals sunglasses!!):

I spent a lot of time pondering what to make with this yarn - quite honestly, I was plagued with indecision as to what type of project would be best. But then I remembered seeing this gorgeous project on the Knitted Bliss blog, and I decided to shamelessly copy Julie's idea and cast on for a Starshower cowl.

Since I have issues styling shawls on myself, this is the ideal pattern for me: it's worn like a cowl but looks kinda like a shawl, and features the best parts of knitting both projects, which I like. I ended up adding two extra stitch pattern repeats and elongating the garter border at the bottom just so that I could get to the blue part of the gradient:

I'm quite happy with how this project turned out, and the yarn was absolutely lovely to work with. I'm not sure how many projects I would want to make with a gradient, but it was definitely a fun experiment, and kept me motivated to keep knitting because I was dying to see that color change!

The Details
Yarn: Apple Tree Knits Plush Fingering in Night's Bright Colors
Pattern: Starshower by Hilary Smith Callis
Needles: Knitter's Pride Zing fixed circulars, US 6

Thanks for stopping by, have a crafty weekend!

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