Weirwood Cowl
Andrea KruB-Anders, March 2014 Latest Revision: March 26 2014 Revision history: 2014-03-26 First release of pattern
Legal Notes, Terms of Usage
This pattern is intended for private use only. You may copy and distribute it freely under that constraint. Selling or trading it or other commercial usage is prohibited. Every other usage or publication, entirely or partially, in print or electronically, needs my explicit written consent. My name as designer must not be removed. Yarn: Fingering weight yarn (approx. 420 meters per 100 grams) in two contrasting colors: main color (MC) approx. 60 to 70 grams (250 to 300 meters), contrast color (CC) approx. 30 to 35 grams (125 to 150 meters) Needles: 2.5 mm (US 1 1/2), preferably a circular needle with 60 cm / 24" length. Gauge: Approximately 30 to 32 stitches per 10 cm / 4" in stranded pattern. The exact gauge is not overly important. You may want to adopt your needle size so that 192 stitches in the stranded pattern give your desired circumference. Required skills: knit and purl, stranded colorwork with two colors, Italian tubular cast on, tubular bind off, working from a chart for colorwork. You can find illustrated instructions how to work the Italian tubular cast on and the tubular bind off in many books about knitting techniques, e.g. "Cast on - Bind Off" by Leslie Ann Bestor, or on the Internet, e.g at http://www.woollywormhead.com/knit-and-crochet-1/ (there are several PDFs for download about cast on methods there) or at http://slowknits.com/2006/07/tubular_caston_without_the_was_1.html or at http://www.knittingdaily.com/glossary/tubular-cast-on-for-k1-p1-ribbing.aspx, http://www.knittingdaily.com/glossary/invisible-ribbed-bind-off.aspx. You may also want to check out the many videos on YouTube about this. Alternatively you can use any other cast on / bind off that gives a stretchy edge if you prefer. Notions: Optionally 8 stitch markers.
Pattern notes
The cowl is knit in the round. It features a solid 2 x 2 ribbing at the bottom and the top. The center motif is worked over 60 rounds using the stranded colorwork technique. About the name: Weirwood trees - that are mighty century-old trees with bone white trunks and blood red foliage in George R. R. Martin's fantasy novel series "A Song of Ice and Fire". They are sacred trees of the Old Gods. Faces are carved into the trunks so that the Old Gods can watch what is going on and talk to their followers who are willing to listen.
Instructions
Cast on 192 sts in main color (MC) using the Italian tubular cast on or any other stretchy cast on method. Join to the round being careful not to twist the edge. Work a 2 x 2 ribbing (knit 2 sts, purl 2 sts around) for approx. 5 cm / 2". Knit 2 more rounds in MC. You may use these rounds to place stitch markers every 24 stitches. There will be 8 sections with 24 stitches each. Begin knitting the stranded pattern following the chart on the next part. One pattern repeat is 24 stitches wide. The chart is read from bottom to top row-by-row and from right to left in each row. The white rectangles in the chart mark MC stitches, the colored rectangles mark CC stitches. The stitch markers may help to keep track of the pattern repeats. It is recommended to weave in long floats on the wrong side if they are longer than 6 or 7 stitches. So there will not be overlong strands of yarn on the inside of the coWl. After finishing the chart knit another 2 rounds in MC removing the stitch markers. Work the top 2 x 2 ribbing for another 5 cm / 2". Bind off with the tubular bind off or any other stretchy bind off method. Finishing: Almost none ;) Weave in ends. Wash the cowl and let it dry lying flat. If you like block the stranded part lightly. Enjoy knitting! Andrea KruB-Anders (Ravelry user name: DreaK)
