River and Reeds Cowl
This cowl is a great first project for a knitter who is keen to try lace, but wants a little practice with a heavier weight of yarn. The stitch-pattern is easy to memorise and clearly demonstrates the whys and hows of lace by using yarnovers in combination with left-slanting and right-slanting decreases to create a richly-textured fabric. More experienced knitters should find this a quick and simple project, repetitive enough for TV-knitting but with a few twists and turns to keep you interested. It can be knit entirely from written pattern or by supplementing the pattern with charts for the eyelet sections.
Materials
- 5.5mm (US 9) circular needle. - 300yds Aran/Worsted weight yarn, although it could easily be knit with finer yarn to give it more drape. (Sample was knit using 3 balls of Elle Traditional Aran Knit.) Gauge Exact gauge is not required for this project, as it is easily adjustable for length by adding/removing repeats of the stitch-pattern. It is up to you whether you Want a thick cuddly cowl or a thin drapey one ?
Abbreviations
K - Knit P-Purl K2tog - Knit two stitches together. SKPO - Slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over. (This can be substituted with a SSK (slip-slip-knit) if you prefer.) YO - Yarn over Chart Legend
| Knit | |
| Purl | |
| --. | K2tog |
| 1 | SKTO |
| YO |
And now, the Actual Pattern: Cast on a multiple of 16 stitches using the long-tail method. For the cowl pictured here, I cast on (160) stitches, but you may want to add/remove pattern repeats depending on your gauge/yarn weight. Join in the round, being careful not to twist stitches. Place marker for beginning of row. Setup round 1: Purl Setup round 2: Knit Repeat rows 1-2 once more. Knit one round Begin tilting reeds pattern (Chart A): Round 1: \*(SKPO, YO) 4 times, (K1, P1) 4 times; rpt from \* Round 2: \*K8, (P1, K1) 4 times; rpt from \* These rounds form the left-slanting eyelet sections. Repeat rounds 1-2 three more times (8 rounds worked) Round 3: \*(K1, P1) 4 times, (YO, K2tog) 4 times; rpt from \*
Round 4: \*(P1, K1) 4 times, K8; rpt from \*
These rounds form the right-slanting eyelet sections. Repeat round 3-4 three more times (8 rounds worked). Repeat rounds 1-2 four times (8 rounds worked) (NB: For a thinner cowl, omit the last pattern repeat.) End of tilting reeds section 1
Chart A:
| 24 | |||||||||||||||||
| oltoltoltolt | 23 | ||||||||||||||||
| 22 | |||||||||||||||||
| 10 | 1 | 1 | 21 | ||||||||||||||
| OZ | |||||||||||||||||
| oloiot | 0 | 7. | 19 | ||||||||||||||
| 18 | |||||||||||||||||
| 10 | 1 | 7 | 17 | ||||||||||||||
| 16 | |||||||||||||||||
| /0/0/0/0 | 15 | ||||||||||||||||
| 14 | |||||||||||||||||
| 0/0/0/0 | 13 | ||||||||||||||||
| 12 | |||||||||||||||||
| 0/0/0/0 | 11 | ||||||||||||||||
| 10 | |||||||||||||||||
| /0707070 | 9 | ||||||||||||||||
| 8 | |||||||||||||||||
| ololollo | 1 | 7 | |||||||||||||||
| 6 | |||||||||||||||||
| oltololt | 10 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||||||||
| 4 | |||||||||||||||||
| + | 1. | 1. | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||||||
| 2 | < | ||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 7 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| 1615 14 13 12|11 10 | 6 | D | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Knit two rounds, purl one round.
Begin eyelet mesh section (Chart B): Round 1: (YO, K2tog) rpt to end of round. Round 2: Knit Round 3: (SKPO, YO) rpt to end of round Round 4: Knit Round 5: (YO, K2tog) rpt to end of round. End of eyelet mesh section
Chart B:
| 0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0 | Knit | |||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Purl | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | K2tog | |||||||||||||||||||
| 0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/ | 1 | 1 | SKPO | |||||||||||||||||
| 1615 | 1413121110 | 9 | 8 | ä¸ | 5 | 4 | 1 | + | YO |
Purl one round, knit two rounds.
Tilting reeds section 2 (Chart C) ·Round 1: \*K8, (P1, K1) 4 times; rpt from \* Round 2: \*(SKPO, YO) 4 times, (K1, P1) 4 times; rpt from \* Repeat rounds 1-2 three more times (8 rounds worked). (NB: For a thinner cowl, omit the last pattern repeat.) Round 3: \*(P1, K1) 4 times, K8; rpt from \* Round 4: \*(K1, P1) 4 times, (YO, K2tog) 4 times; rpt from \* Repeat rounds 3-4 three more times (8 rounds worked) Repeat rounds 1-2 four times (8 rounds worked) End of tilting reeds section 2.
Chart C:
Knit 2 rounds Ending round 1: Purl Ending round 2: Knit Ending round 3: Purl Bind off, weave in ends and block as necessary. Enjoy your lovely warm squishiness ?
