Boingy boingy!

That's not really the name of this cowl - it's actually called the Willow Cowl, but it's got that nickname in here because it's the most delightfully elastic, tactile object. It snuggles round your neck and gives you the gentlest, warmest hug. It's such an easy knit too, with rounds of stocking stitch alternating with a very very simple eyelet pattern, so that you get that clever concertina effect. It takes just a single skein of Araucania Botany Lace, and this sample was knitted on 3.25mm needles. We've been talking about the boingy boingy all afternoon, probably because there's a teeny little bit of a chill in the air the last couple of days - that, and we've just got some new colours of Botany Lace into stock. Just imagine a cowl made in one of these... This cowl is so elastic that it's good to use a nice stretchy cast off: we recommend Elizabeth Zimmermann's sewn one, which we blogged last year at this link. It's easy and it stretches beautifully. You know, the general level of excitement's quite high here, because tomorrow night we're attending the Grafton Media Blog Awards. If you follow us on twitter (we're @ThisIsKnit), we'll be tweeting the evening's proceedings from the Osprey Hotel in Naas, so you can follow along with us. We can't wait!