A tale of two cowls

In the beginning of February I wrote a post about how I had started to crochet and was embarking on my first big crochet project.  Well, to say that I just started to crochet isn't entirely accurate.  I knew some crochet before, but it wasn't a part of my normal crafting routine.  Now I can officially say that it is part of my crafting routine.  I've jumped in and there is no turning back now!

My first big project was the crochet along at the store on the Tornado Twist pattern by Elizabeth Trantham.  This pattern is available on Ravelry here as well as a leaflet available at your LYS (though maybe call ahead if it's a far drive and you want to be sure they have it).  Spud & Chloe has it listed here as well as a link to locate a local retailer.  Park Avenue Yarns has copies, so that is where I picked mine up from.  Let me just say that this pattern is a lot of fun.  I mean it, fun.  

If you know even a little bit of crochet, then you can do this pattern.  It really helped me become familiar with the different crochet stitches - single crochet (sc), half double crochet (hdc) and double crochet (dc).  The hardest part of the whole thing was making the beginning chain (you have to make a reeeaaaaaalllllyyyy long chain) and then joining it in the round without twisting.  The second hardest part was keeping track of your last stitch of the previous round as well as the first stitch of the current round.  I solved that problem by using locking stitch markers to mark each, respectively. Really, that is all there is to this cowl.  

My first cowl was done using the following colors, which made a cowl very similar to the one pictured in the pattern:
Ravelry project page: Tornado Twist
A - Sidewalk
B - Wildberries
C - Lipstick
D - Dolphin
E - Green Bean

At the end of the cowl, I figured out how much of each yarn was used/left remaining and got together with a friend/fellow crocheter, Cyndi, who knit a purple version of the cowl and we switched colors.  We didn't quite have quite enough to do a one for one swap, but needed to purchase an additional gray color (Sidewalk).  The biggest difference was then my purple cowl would have a cream color & a gray color and no periwinkle (Dolphin) color.  Her cowl ended up with all the periwinkle (Dolphin) color, which she would use at the main color.

Here are my colors for the second version aka the purple version:
Ravelry project page: Tornado Twist Take 2
A - Sidewalk
B - Wildberries
C - Dragonfly
D - Snorkel
E - Popcorn

Cyndi ended up ahead of me while crocheting the second one (even though I had started before her - she's a really fast/awesome crocheter!!), so she was the first to figure out that the swap wasn't going to work exactly as we planned.  We were both going to run short on some colors.  I ended up omitting quite a few rnds as follows: Rnds 21, 27, 29, 38 & 39.  The only other modification was a change in Rnd 23.  That rnd called for half double crochet, but I did single crochet instead.  Despite these changes, the overall finished dimensions of both weren't that far off.  My first cowl had a diameter of 29.5" and a width of ~10.5".  The second cowl (purple cowl) had a diameter of 28.5" and a width of ~9.5".

I love this pattern so much that I'm even considering doing a third!  How crazy is that!  I just love how simple it is and really love the result.  I wore my first one almost everyday after I blocked it.  It was getting to be embarrassing - I started telling people to expect me in it because I just could not stop wearing it.  I had planned on giving this second one to my sister, her favorite color is purple after all, but I'm not sure I can part with it.