I don't think I'd ever worn a cowl until my friend Caroline gave me this one for my birthday a few years ago. Caroline always chooses beautiful and thoughtful gifts and this bears the name of Orkney designer, Kirsteen Stewart, and is 100% lambswool. I wear it around the house when I'm chilly - it keeps me surprisingly cosy without adding another layer of clothing.
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| Mixter Maxter Twist Scarf by Kirsteen Stewart |
Knitters tend to think of cowls as quick projects using relatively small amounts of wool to create tubes that keep your neck cosy. When I saw how cool knitwear designer Isabell Kraemer looked modelling her own cowl pattern, I just had to make it.
You could choose how many stitches to cast on and my version is more of an infinity scarf than a cowl. I made it too long and found it too bulky. Consequently, after popping it on for this photo, I never wore it.
Again, the jury is out whether this is an infinity scarf or a cowl. I enjoyed selecting colours from my stash of precious leftovers, including the purply-pink I'd freed up a year earlier. Knitting outside in the sun is always a pleasure, especially if the project isn't so big to be too hot on your lap! A cowl like this meets that brief.
The resulting cowl is really toasty and I'm going to wear on the golf course. I need to be warm but don't require the extra bulk of a scarf. My beginner attempts to hit the ball need no additional encumbrance! 
For twenty four days in December last year I uncovered a new woolly bundle and incorporated it into my cowl. Erin of Henny Penny Makes creates the most beautiful colours. 
It's a simple stocking stitch design but I love it. I'd some misgivings about the highlighter green on day 9 but only a flash is usually visible which makes all the other colours sing. I wear this cowl a lot as it appears to go with almost everything I wear!
This cowl was ideal knitting as we locked down again in January 2021. The online course I attended last October run by Maddie Harvey on how to cable without a cable needle came in really handy for this design as I put my new skill into practice.
The design is called Copenhagen Calling. Back in October 2018, I was about to enjoy a mini-break in Copenhagen, so it seemed entirely appropriate to use some treasured Hedgehog Fibres and Ripplescrafts yarn and make this lovely design. I even got to try on a grey and turquoise version of this cowl on Baa!'s stall at the 2018 Perth Yarn Festival. This only galvanised my desire to knit it.
And in June 2019 I recognised I was never going to wear it so I ripped it out!
Which freed up the beautiful wool to become something else.
Cowl patterns kept creeping into my life and in the lockdown summer of 2020, I spotted the Arabella Cowl by Rowan Yarns.
I wore the Arabella Cowl twisted twice around my neck but, if I'm honest, it's a bit short for this and too long (for my liking) to be worn without doubling it up. Too much like a mahoosive woolly necklace. Not yet the cowl of my dreams.
During the stay-at-home summer of 2020 I purchased some pretty mini-skeins to support the Flower Power Fund. A one woman initiative, Dr Sarah Holmes' Flower Power Fund raises funds for Marie Curie by teaming up with UK indie yarn dyers once a month to produce a limited edition colourway based on a flower of their choice. Last year Sarah's yarn sales and raffles raised over £25,000 for Marie Curie hospices!
I was smitten when Leona-Jane at Rusty Ferret dyed up these beauties for the Flower Power Fund based on her favourite blooms, sweet williams. They're beautifully vibrant and I chose to knit the merino minis whilst holding a strand of Rico mohair silk as I like the cosy texture this creates.
When I tried to purchase more of the icy mohair, though, I learned that the colour had been discontinued. After a short cry, I found this pretty pink Lang Mohair Luxe at Emily Foulds online shop and held the Flower Power yarn with this instead.
Over the winter, I chose to knit the SOS Cowl by Edinburgh designer and tutor, Maddie Harvey, which she designed specifically for mini skeins. It's a free pattern which combines multiple colours with a simple lace repeat when you sign up for her newsletter.
How generous!
This cowl is definitely a keeper.
As soon as I opened my advent calendar from Henny Penny Makes I knew I was going to knit each tiny yarn package into the Simple Scrappy Advent Cowl, the pattern included in the box.
Another cowl for the collection!
Just a week after finishing the advent cowl, I opened my Cookston Crafts Hogmanay Treat Box. I already had the The Fireside Chat Cowl by Zanete Hussain in my pattern library and the wonderful warm tones of the Hogmanay colourway dyed by Claire of Cookston Crafts was perfect. I teamed it up with a gorgeous rust coloured skein dyed by La Bien Aimee in collaboration with Mondim I'd won in a giveaway two years earlier.
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| This Cookston Crafts Treat Box included a Jane Keenan candle and shortbread by Bakeology |
I couldn't help but notice how colour coordinated my reading and knitting had become!
So what have I learned from knitting all these cowls?
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| Reading Shuggie Bain for pleasure and David Walliams for school! |
What drew me to this pattern is the way this cowl showcases two completely different yarns. The textured and stocking stitch sections are knitted at the same time then seamed with a twist which creates a double thickness of woolly warmth.
- I've realised that I like a short tube which doesn't hug the neck too tightly.
- Using yarn which will drape nicely has made me more likely to wear the finished item.
- Colour, colour colour! I will always choose to keep cosy with colour coordinated accessories.
I'm sure there will be more cowls in my creative future but I may be more thoughtful over my pattern choice to ensure I make neckwear that I will love.
