A couple months ago I spun up some angora fiber and, because it was a test of patience in itself, I decided to set the beautiful fruit of my labor to the side until I could cool down and figure out what it was truly meant to be.

The more I played with it, the more I realised that it's one of the softest things I've ever felt, and it should definitely be something that I can easily snuggle into, and won't get ruined.  

With that decided, the lovely fluffy yarn told me that it wanted to be a cowl that would be close around my neck, and would be done and undone with some nice dark wood buttons.  

My decision was a wise one too.  Every person I showed this to had the instinctual reaction to rub it on their face (don't worry, all family and close friends).  The pattern I did for this is:

Row 1 (Right Side):  Purl, Knit, Knit, Purl

Row 2 (Less-right side):  Knit, Purl, Purl, Knit

Row 3 (RS): Purl all the way across.

The photos I've taken are mostly of the wrong side because I ended up liking the look of the pattern on the back side rather than the front.

To demonstrate the buttonholes I thought I would use yarn that wasn't so fluffy so that you can actually see what's going on.  I considered just sticking with the angora fiber for the example, but thought better of it because just about everything looked exactly the same as it had before until it was completely finished.  

So all I did for the buttonholes was cast off stitches in the middle of the row which for my project I did a smaller hole to match the buttons, but a large one here to make it more visible.  

On the way back towards the stitches I casted off, I knit up all the way to the last stitch on the left side.  At that point I went to start another stitch as if I was going to work my way back on the side I just knitted across (meaning the stitches you see to the right are completely left alone).  Instead of working my way back I took the loop that would be the new stitch on my right needle, and twisted it around and back onto the left needle.

To simplify, the old stitch that normally slides off of your needle when doing a stitch remains on the needle it started, and you twist the new stitch onto the needle with the old one.  

Doing this casts on in a clean, tight way in the middle of your row.  

Only do as many stitches as you cast off, because it will absolutely look too small when you're finished casting on, but by the next row you have the perfect amount.  

Note:  I knit left handed and right handed while doing this so I'm always facing the correct or "right" side, and never flip to the wrong side.  If you do not knit this way, flipping your project around to best suit your own style will be fine so long as with the side you're facing you use knit stitches to cast on, that way it will all look pretty much the same.  

Here it is, all finished and ready for me to snuggle into as if I'm an owl, and it is my delightful plumage.  

Stay sweet, stay snuggly, and stay tuned.