mmmmm…… alpaca

i finallly photographed a finished knitted project!  here is a cowl i recently completed.  i used chunky misti alpaca which is so, so soft and this color was just luscious.  there was only one skein left at the store, so i dug around on ravelry and found this pattern which i just knitted until i ran out of yarn and i got this super comfy, easy-to-wear thing of beauty:

my first attempt at a bind-off was way too tight and had zero stretch and was just not working for me, so i un-bound it (nerve-wracking), did a little googling and discovered “jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind-off” which although i could not seem to coordinate my needles to make this work (about half the time, i just pulled the stitches over and off the needles with my fingers.  is that cheating?) it was only one round and i love the results.  very stretchy and comfy.