Stem and Leaf Fair Isle Cowl
Materials: 2 hanks of Alchemy Juniper Yarn: one hank of Kai's Goldfish, one of Turquoise Pool. (or any similar weight yarn- sock, fingering, lace weight will all do nicely) One 16" circular needle, size 2 (3 mm). 3 Place markers. Gauge: knit in pattern, one inch = 9 stitches, one inch = 11 rows. This is the sort of project where gauge is not terribly important....as long as it fits over your head! Finished measurements: about 8 inches long and about 9 inches wide.
Key technique:
Wrapping: In traditional fair isle knitting, one only carries the unused yarn color behind the knitted work for a few stitches. This pattern requires you to carry the unused color behind the knitted work for longer stretches. This can create long “floats" of unused yarn behind your work. Floats can get caught on things, and they look sloppy. We will avoid having dangling floats by using a wrapping method. When to use the wrapping method: whenever a float is going to be more than 7 or 8 stitches long. When done carefully, there is no show-through of the unused color. It works best if you stagger the wraps so that they don't recur in the same spot. How to create the wrap: put your right-hand needle into the next stitch as if to knit. Wrap the unused color once over the used color, then knit the stitch color as normal. Tug the unused “wrapped" yarn gently up toward the top of the work. What direction do I wrap the yarn? The wrap works best if you bring the yarn over the top of the used color. However, if you do only wrap in one direction, you will get very twisted yarn. For convenience sake, I recommend that you sometimes wrap from the bottom, it keeps the yarn from tangling . Yarn and needle position for wrapping:
Abbreviations: K: knit P: purl CO: cast on PM: Place mark
Instructions:
Using circular needle and goldfish, CO 60 stitches. PM . CO 60 stitches. PM . CO 60 stitches. PM . Join, being careful not to twist. (you will have a total of 180 stitches and 3 place markers- one for each repeat of the chart) Work 1.5 inches of k2p2 ribbing, slipping markers as you go Knit one round in stockinette stitch . At beginning of next round: Join Blue, Work chart, using wrapping technique at your discretion (3 repeats of chart around circumference of cowl). Break blue. Work one round in stockinette stitch in goldfish. Work 1.5 inches of k2p2 rib in goldfish. BO, Weave in ends.
wrong side (note wraps)
Right side
\*\* This pattern is notfor resale. This Pattern is for personal use only, and may not be used to create items for sale\*\*
