Hello everyone!
It’s been a little while hasn’t it? I’ve been away on holiday, hence the lack of posts, and while I’ve been away some of things I’ve been working on over the summer have been published – very exciting! I’ve had a few things published now, but I still love seeing my designs in print with beautiful professional photos. More of the other patterns soon, but today I have a pattern in Knit Now (Issue 13 Gifted Knits Supplement) to tell you about.
Honeycomb Cowl from Knit Now Issue 13 Gifted Knits Supplement
Copyright Charlotte Walford 2012
The Honeycomb Cowl started life as a reversible cable stitch that I had been playing about with. I really love reversible stitches, so ever since I’d discovered this while playing around with cable stitches I ‘d been wanting to design something with it. The design brief this time was simply something that you could knit as a Christmas gift. So it needed to be quick to knit without being too simple and boring to make (sometimes the reason I end up with UFOs), and not use too much yarn. The reversible honeycomb stitch that I’d been playing around with seemed perfect! I could use it to make a cowl with none of those ‘what happens when it drapes and you see the wrong side?’ problems.
Swatch of reversible honeycomb cable stitch
Copyright Charlotte Walford 2012
Then I thought about other things that might make the cowl a bit more wearable. What if I made it flare out over the shoulders like this?
Honeycomb Cowl Sketch
Copyright Charlotte Walford 2012
So I decided on a cowl in reversible honeycomb cable stitch, with built in shaping about halfway up narrowing the cowl towards the neck, knitted in the round. Easy, but not so easy that you get fed up before you’ve finished. I chose Artesano Aran for the design as I wanted a yarn that was sturdy enough to keep out the wind on a cold day, but soft enought to wear against your neck. It also has great stitch definition (really important for cables), and I found it worked really well on larger needles than those recommended on the label (I used 6mm needles to give the fabric a bit more drape).
It knitted up really quickly, and best of all there are no seams! Just a couple of ends to sew in and I was done. My cowl took about one and a half skeins of Artesano Aran, so if you are making them as gifts you could get two cowls from three skeins (other yarns will vary, so check the total yardage is the same if you are using yarn from your stash)!
I really hope you like it – if you want to get your hands on the pattern for my Honeycomb Cowl (and lots of other lovely patterns) Knit Now Issue 13 is in the shops now, or pop over to their website if you want to buy one directly. I’d love to see your versions if you make one!
Lottie x
Lottieknits 