A Cowl I’m Wearing Every day

I hope that every knit I complete will get well-worn and be useful besides a pleasure to make. Even within the first month of being a completed cowl, very few days have past without finding myself slipping this cowl around my neck. This post shares all the details behind knitting this colorwork cowl.

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Yarn: Fingering weight

• Retrosaria Mondim in color, 302 Heathered Brick
• Quince and Co. Finch in color, Egret

Pattern: Tapestry Cowl by Corinne Tomlinson

Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) fixed circular needles

What I Enjoyed:

• Selbu colorwork motif on the cowl
• Yarn used is warm yet not scratchy on my neck as some wool yarns can be

What Bothered Me:

• My fluctuating tension while knitting resulting in slight puckering of the cowl fabric even after blocking

In an attempt to not make purchases I regret, I often will take note of a pattern that I would like to knit from and see if the pattern comes to mind again later.

In the case of the Tapestry Cowl by Corinne Tomlinson, I kept thinking what an intricate and festive colorwork pattern this cowl contained.

Plus, a knitted cowl often gets lots of wear by myself and family members.

I purchased the pattern, knit up the cowl, and have been putting it on almost every day since being blocked!

Materials

Thankfully, I was able to find all the materials I needed in my yarn pantry. Both yarns were fingering weight but sourced from different companies.

In a heathered color of reds and browns, I used Retrosaria Mondim yarn to knit the Selbu stitch pattern that I found attractive when I first saw the pattern.

I was pleased that I had enough of this yarn to knit a cowl after knitting my brother a pair of colorwork, man-sized socks. That skein went along way!

For the white color that is in the background of the Selbu pattern, I used Quince and Co. Finch.

Occasionally, curiosity gets the best of me, and I enjoy taking undyed skeins of yarns in pots filled with dyes made from kitchen scraps or plants I find in the yard. The results can be amazing! Thankfully, this “hobby” also means I normally have a white yarn on hand.

I purchased the 2-Color Tapestry Cowl pattern from The Wooly Thistle’s website.

I knit the cowl with the magic loop technique on size US 3 (3.25 mm) fixed circular needles.

Modifications

Thinner Width for Finished Cowl

As I mentioned above, I was knitting this cowl with leftover yarn from a previous project. I would be lying to say I wasn’t slightly nervous about running out of the heathered colored yarn while knitting this cowl.

To avoid that situation, I casted on the number of stitches to work 2 repeats of the Selbu stitch pattern around the cowl instead of the 3 recommended by the pattern.

In the end, not only did I have sufficient amounts of yarn, the cowl warms my neck without bumping against my ears. Honestly, I find wider cowls to be great for wearing on a below-freezing day outside, but quickly annoying for a day around the house. The final width has been perfect for warming my neck throughout the day without rubbing my face much.

Switching Dominant Colors

For the majority of the color, I held my strands of yarn so that the stitches knit with the heathered yarn stuck out while the stitches knit with white yarn receded into the background.

As this cowl was knit in sprints over a year, I forgetfully ended up knitting 1 block repeat with the stitches in white standing out.

Though tempting, I didn’t rip out this section. It was interesting to see the visual difference in the pattern. Honestly, I find both appealing, but overall do like consistency in my knitting.

Custom Length

Corinne Tomlinson recommends a certain number of blocks to be knit of the Selbu stitch pattern. As I was working with limited yarn quantities, I planned to knit the number of pattern blocks that would be needed to wrap around my neck, with a little breathing room, once.

As the cowl got longer, I would stop after each new block and wrap it around my neck. In the end, 6 block repeats was how many times I needed to have a comfortable length of a cowl.

Other Notes

Catching Floats

It took me a while to clue into this fact.

The wrong side of the cowl is not exposed therefore why would I be catching the long strands of floats as I won’t be able snag them anyway.

Once I realized this, my knitting speed, and enjoyment, increased greatly.

3 Needle Bind Off Color

I used the recommended 3 needle bind off method to finish this cowl. I contemplated what color I wanted to bind off with. I had plenty of both. In the end, I used white to bind off.

How Long Did it Take You to Make?

For me, I casted on this colorwork cowl in the fall of 2022, September to be exact. I did my bind off on October 15, 2023.

I knit on several other items during this time so that also impacted the time of start to finish for this cowl.

Conclusion

Yet have I tired from knitting and binding off an item that gets well-worn and used. When you read this post, I will have had this cowl finished for well-over a week.

Honestly, I can say I’ve put it around my neck most days to keep me warmer while working around the house on cold days but also to go out and visit friends.

I’m pleased and already thinking of knitting a cowl from this pattern next time a cowl is needed.

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Have a blessed day, friends! I will be back with more to share soon.

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