Stuck in Stockholm Cowl
My husband and I went to Stockholm this past spring for what was intended to be a weeklong trip, and then Wham! the lceland volcano happened. So we ended up there for an extra week, and I ended up with nothing to knit and a real yearning for some big and chunky neckwear like all the hip Swedes were sporting. A lovely walk over to Marias Garn on St Paulsgatan and some extremely satisfying on-the-fly knitting later, my cowl was born. It's a very quick knit, with 2 size choices depending on whether you want a huge floppy look, more like a scarf, or a tighter close to the neck cowl.
8 mm/ size 11 circular needles, 16 inch 1 stitch marker BC Garn Manu 100% baby alpaca, 70-150m depending on width and length desired Cast on 60/75 st, join to work in round. Work 3 rows in garter st- k 1 row, p 1 row, k 1 row. Begin lace pattern. Row 1- k1, yo, k4, k2tbl, k1, k2tog, k4, yo, k1 Rows 2 and 3- k all sts Row 4- k3, yo, k2, k2tbl, k1, k2tog, k2, yo, k3 Rows 5 and 6- k all sts Row 7- k5, yo, k2tbl, k1, k2tog, yo, k5 Rows 8 and 9- k all sts Repeat lace pattern to desired length, ending on row 8. (my large size cowl is about 12 inches, and my small size is about 8 inches) Work garter st for 3 rows- p 1 row, k 1 row, p 1 row. Bind off kwise loosely. Weave in ends. Optional decrease at top of cowl for larger size- this makes the cowl fit a bit closer at the neck. When you deciyon the length is enough to only require one more lace repeat, on Row 7, change k2tbl to k3tbl. Thereafter, eliminate middle k1 on rows 1, 4, and 7. Five stsdecreased.
Pattern notes- obviously any superchunky yarn can be substituted here. If you don't like k2tbl, you can use sl 1, k1, psso instead. And if you're making this for a teeny person or child, you could use DPNs and work the pattern over 45 sts.
