This week I’m knitting with some of the new colors of Universal Yarn Deluxe Worsted Tweed. This classic tweedy look yarn is a great choice for warm and cozy garments, accessories, and home decor. In addition, I’m using handcrafted ebony Lantern Moon Destiny circular knitting needles.

Yesterday, I knit a couple of hats based on a free pattern available from Ravelry. Today, I’m using another free pattern, the Sailors Rib Cowl, as my template for knitting up a warm and cozy cowl. Cowls are a great source of warmth when working outdoors. They’re also often recommended for children rather than scarves for safety reasons. Today, I’m knitting a cowl according to the pattern, but I’ll also talk about how to personalize and resize for different age groups.

Once again, I’m using each of the 3 new colors of Deluxe Worsted Tweed to knit up the cowls, beginning with Great Lakes. Designed by Gretchen Tracy, the Sailor’s Rib Cowl is based on a worsted weight gauge of 20sts = 4” which is perfect for Deluxe Worsted Tweed. I love the texture of the pattern just as it is, but I’ve also personalized it by using different pattern motifs.

For the first cowl, I’m using Deluxe Worsted Tweed in color Great Lakes and the Lantern Moon US6 [4.0mm] circular needles. My needles are 32” which means I’ll need to either use the Magic Loop method and/or, what I refer to as ‘choking up’ on the needles. This should be a really good test for the Lantern Moon needles.

I love the texture of this stitch and the tweed effects of the yarn really highlight the pattern. My goal is to knit 3 in total, one in each color of which at least one is sized for a child. How will I do that when the pattern is one size? By using the stitch count of the hat pattern from yesterday, of course. If you notice, the stitch count for the Adult Large hat is the same as the Cowl. Since cowls are not form-fitted, the sizing just needs to be close. As for the length, it can be folded over if it’s too long. That’s one of the things I really like about the pattern; it looks good on both sides and folded over adds to the warmth.

I intend to use yesterday’s mock or faux cable pattern to knit one of the cowls. It gives me variety when I knit and it looks good. You can use a multiple of 5sts from any pattern, but if the pattern motif you want to use is a multiple of 6sts, you can use 102sts instead of 100. It doesn’t have to be exactly the same as the pattern, just close enough to maintain the sizing.

Here are the instructions for the Mock or Faux Cable Pattern I used on the hat and will be using on another cowl.

abbreviations

K = Knit

P = Purl

K1tbl = Knit 1 through back loop

Sl = Slip stitch knit-wise

psso = Pass slipped stitch over

yo = Yarn over

Mock or Faux Cable Pattern                                                                                                     

Round 1: *K1tbl, p1, k2, p1*, repeat from *.
Round 2: *K1tbl, p1, k1, yo, k1, pl * repeat from *.
Round 3: *K1tbl, p1, k3, p1* repeat from *.
Round 4: *K1tbl, p1, Sl1, k2, psso, p1* repeat from *.

I love the look of this cowl and I really enjoy knitting it. I’ve made it many, many times, just like the hat and I’ve had requests for more. Universal Yarn Deluxe Worsted Tweed is a great choice for this pattern. The tweed effects and stitch definition of the yarn work really well with the stitch pattern. I think when I make another hat, I’ll use the Sailor’s Rib stitch pattern.

I must say that I’ve fully adjusted to using wood needles as opposed to my usual metal ones. The Lantern Moon Destiny circular needles performed really well for Magic Loop knitting.

I hope you join me tomorrow as it brings another day of knitting and weaving with Deluxe Worsted Tweed, but this time, using multiple colors together to create some lovely pattern motifs.

This is part 4 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 3:

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