MERTOLA
DIAMOND COWL
Now if you’ve been following my blogs you’ll know that as soon as
I’ve been traveling around Portugal and with each new town or tourist spot I
visit, I’m hoping to give you a bird’s eye view of the place and a pattern as
well. I started out in Aveiro, and made my first mobius cowl for my
daughter. If you missed that blog, then it’s my Double Crossed Mobius
Cowl at http://shyamanivas.blogspot.com/2014/12/double-crossed-mobius-cowl.html
Thank you for joining me.
In case you have just joined me, know that you can access all of my earlier creations by checking under ‘categories’ on the right hand side of this blog under “Labels”. Then, for your convenience, follow me here or on Facebook, You Tube, Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram.
Check out all my social media handles at the bottom of this blog
Oh, and may I add that the fastest way to find any of my blogs is via Pinterest.
All my blogs can be printed. Find the printer friendly (green) link at the bottom of this blog. You can also hit Control P (or Command P for Mac) on your keyboard, and the blog will go directly to the connected printer.
Remember that you only print if absolutely essential. Save paper – Save Our Earth.
Do remember to add my blog URL when you make and show off your creation.
Just copy the link on the search bar above - that's the blog URL.
To purchase this or similar yarn online, click here to buy your yarns online via Amazon. While you will still pay the same, I may get paid by Amazon as well.
This is a free blog - so do pay it forward for me. Cheers.
OK, so we're heading back to Portugal and today we’re in the lovely town of Mertola that boasts of a
lovely national park as well as a peaceful waterfall. Yet again a nice
homely, easy-going town, Mertola has a lovely castle with a lot of history as
well - but then we’ve seen that all places in Portugal have loads of
history. For the more adventurous visitor, you can rent a kayak and go
for a quick work out down the river and for the not as adventurous, the up and
down roads will offer you a good cardio and work-out .. well, for the cardio
you’d probably have to run, but you’ll figure that out.
Our lovely hotel Beira Rio (Hotel Museu) is on this cobbled road
(yes, cobbled seems synonymous with most roads we’ve been on in Portugal.. but
I am still in love with it) – and its on a gradient.. (so a good place for me
to start on my work out .. but I’m on vacation.. haha)
Just off our road are the winding steps that lead to the beautiful
castle – with more history.. and a set of lovely cafes down these really cute,
quaint, winding roads.
The castle garden still holds perfectly maintained relics in stone.
The city centre also has this really well made tableau for Christmas and what caught my attention the most is the R-R-R angle (Re-use, Re-cycle, Refuse!) Ingenious, right?
The Pulo de Lobo waterfall is about a 20kms drive away from our
resort. The roads are pretty good till the last maybe 5 kms, when without
a warning, the asphalt road becomes a dirt road.. and then slowly becomes a
pretty rough stony road. We were worried our rented (Avis car rented from
Holidaycars.com) car would not make it, so we found a convenient lay-by (or so
we hoped, and yup our car was still there when we returned! ) and left our car
there.. and made our way up to the waterfall point.. it was a pretty uphill
climb and rough.. but well, I did try to avoid the work out earlier didn’t I
? At the waterfall point, we saw that there was another road coming in to
the waterfall from the north end.. hmmm.. wonder if that was the road that the helpful
receptionist at the resort mentioned? However the easy to follow Google maps
guided us via the shortest route, we assume.. of course, Google was not aware
of how rough that road was!
Right so now that Mertola has piqued your interest, here’s the
cowl I made with yarn I bought locally.
Materials used : Today I’ve used a multi- coloured self striped Lana Para Labores from Proezafavorita , which seems to be a medium bulky yarn (label does not specify anything about yarn ply sadly), with a 5.5 mm crochet hook.
For Indians : You could use Anchor , Red rose ; Red rose metallic or unbranded knitting cotton as well as Oswal or Vardhaman acrylic yarns
General yarn info : The yarn used today is not specific to this pattern.
You can use any yarn with a suitable hook to make this project to any size.
International yarns : Among the international yarns I have used in this thickness, I’d suggest Aunt Lydia Cotton 10, Aunt Lydia Bamboo-Viscose 10, DMC Petra, Sullivans knitting cotton (Australia), Milford Soft, Hilaza Rustica Eclat , Alize cotton yarn and Alize bamboo yarn.
Size made : Width : 7.25" x Length : 26".
Instructions :
Instructions :
Please note that I start all my rows with a ch 1, turning chain for ease.
Please check the top of this blog for easy video tutorials on all stitches used in today's pattern.
Please read through all my notes before you pick up your hook, so you know just where we're heading in our pattern.
In my patterns I work with the principle of stitch count and body measurement. This means that you need to work the stitch count in pattern, till you get the measurement (length and/or width) that you need for your project.
Now this is not my pattern. I’ve used the Diamond cowl pattern by Tamara Kelly available at http://www.mooglyblog.com/free-pattern-diamond-crochet-cowl/
However, I’d like to add a few of my notes to this.
The pattern is in multiples of 4 – so depending on the length (around neck) you want, start with that number of fsc. I say this because with the varying plys of yarn, it is difficult sometimes to get the gauge required and then we avoid certain patterns.. and this one is an absolute beauty, and must be tried.
Right, the next thing I’d like to point out is a small typo (I think) in Round 3
(not Row 3, as we’re working in rounds) is that you work the fptrc (Front Post Triple Crochet) into the dc of Round 2 (not sc)
Finally, as always, I like the Chainless dc start.
Double Crochet : dc : yo, insert hk into st ; yo (3 lps on hk);
[yo, draw through 2 lps] twice. One dc made.
Check out the video at https://youtu.be/xdnjB27zpYo
Chainless start for Double Crochet : I dislike the ch-2 / ch – 3 start, and this is what I do to start my row of dc.
Check out the video at https://youtu.be/wskv3iTjRx0
And off we go to the pattern link above. Have a creative day.
Enjoyed this ?? I sure did.. Come back right here for more freebie patterns
Remember to share this blog post when you share your photos with me on Facebook. I’d love to feature your photos on my FB page. Cheers.
If you're visiting me here for the first time, and have liked the experience, do add me to your mailing list (for your convenience) , and all my future free patterns will come straight to your mail box.
I’d appreciate if you could credit my blog (and link the original pattern link) when you make your own creation. Thanks.
Check out my awesome pins on Pinterest at https://in.pinterest.com/shyamanivas/
OR just my free patterns at https://in.pinterest.com/shyamanivas/free-patterns-made-by-me/
Join me on YouTube at http://youtube.com/shyamanivas
And on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Sweet-Nothings-Crochet/ for more patterns.
Do follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/ShyamaNivas
Do follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sweetnothingscrochet/
Find me on Ravelry at ravelry.com/projects/shyamanivas/
Do also visit me at http://www.craftsy.com/user/2573073/pattern-store?_ct=cx-buvjdql&_ctp=my-pattern-store,manage
Have a great day and see you soon.
Here are some of my earlier neckwear creations.
AND for our four legged pals.. some fancy neckwear at
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for taking the time to stop by. Do tell me what you think. Cheers