Knitting gifts from a while back...and some videos

I finally got around to uploading some pictures of a couple of knitting gifts from...oh, last fall. Talk about lazy! But I made up for some of that laziness today by recording TWO videos on knitting cast on techniques for left handed knitters. I will admit that I only thought about making the video because I forgot how to do one of the techniques, and since there aren't too many instructions out there for left-handed knitters, I thought I'd make a "real" video and upload it to YouTube for other left-handed knitters out there.

First the knitting gifts. I made this hat for a friend who likes to play guitar. The yarn is "Allround" by Wolle Rödel, a German yarn I bought locally. I used a pattern, which was created by a German woman, coincidentally. I bought it from Revelry. I don't know if you can tell that the motif above the musical notes is a row of guitars. 

 

 Ravelry info

 

The other gift is a cowl. The pattern, available here, is called "Burberry Inspired Cowl Neck Scarf," because the designer was inspired by one she'd seen sold by Burberry for $750. Yes, $750. I made this scarf out of  Lana Grossa Alta Moda Cashmere, which is actually a wool/cashmere blend. The cowl has large cables knit into it to give it some texture.

 

Ravelry info

 

 And now for the videos. The first video demonstrates the "Old Norwegian Cast On" - also called "Twisted German" or "Elastic Long-Tail." This makes a stretchy cast on edge. This is the cast on that I couldn't remember how to do and after only finding videos of the technique for right-handers I thought I'd make one for left-handers.

 

 

 

After having some fun making this, I thought I'd make one for the regular "Long Tail Cast On."