Mosaic knitting pattern for a cowl.
I love, love, love bandana style cowls. I made already several using different techniques and continue to make more. The bandana style cowl has a longer front, it can beautifully show stitch patterns or colorful motifs, and at the same time, it nicely covers the chest and keeps you warm. And the shorter back of the cowl doesn’t give you bulkiness at the back of the neck, especially if you’re wearing a jacket or coat. Win-win in my books!
The idea for this design started from the yarn. I got 2 skeins of Sueño by HiKoo. This yarn is by Skacel company. The yarn is DK weight and it’s a blend of Superwash merino and bamboo. And I got it in 2 gorgeous colors Corny (blue) and Cantaloupe (orange).
Because colors are complementing each other, I wanted some kind of colorwork for this project to incorporate both colors. At the same time, I didn’t want too complicated knitting like fair isle with all the floats, etc.
Do you know how to ‘cheat’ on colorwork? Use a slip stitch or mosaic pattern. Why is this ‘cheating’ someone may ask? Because usually, colorwork involves 2 or more colors in one row/round, and when you use a slip stitch pattern, you’ll work only with 1 color for each row, and of course, this is much easier. So, the decision was made, to use a slip stitch pattern.
After I decided to use a slip stitch pattern for the Maze-ing Cowl, I was looking also at what direction I should knit this project, in the round or flat. Because several of my latest projects was worked in the round, I decided to take ‘a break’ and worked it flat. And to give it a little twist chose that knitting direction will be different from typical top to bottom or side to side. It is diagonal in comparison to how it will be worn. Look at the schematic to see what I’m talking about.
I was browsing the stitch dictionary to find a stitch pattern that will look good if you tilted it. In the book Vogue Knitting Stitchionary 3 (or the newest edition of the dictionary - Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Stitch Dictionary), I found stitch Pueblo. It reminds me of a maze, and that is why I chose the name for this pattern Maze-ing Cowl.
One more thing I added to the pattern, I-cord. And because it is a pattern with 2 colors, the I-cord is also in 2 colors. Will be you interested to learn 2 colored I-cord? How about using I-cord as your cast on? Yes, I-cord will be your cast on edge too, and it will continue on the sides of the project, so you’ll have a flat piece covered with an I-cord on all sides.
Let’s summarize, Maze-ing Cowl is a bandana style cowl with a longer triangle front and shorter back. Worked flat with I-cord around all sides. One seam about 5” long is required after finishing the flat piece. You’ll need 2 contrasting colors to make this project and the colorwork is made by using slip stitches. The pattern gives instructions for 2 sizes. It is fully written and also includes charts for the slip stitch pattern.
What do you need to know before you can start this project:
How to knit, purl, ssk decrease, slip stitches with yarn in front and back, Provisional cast on using crochet hook, I-cord, 3-needle bind off, pick up and knit stitches on the edge of the work
What do you need to make the cowl:
Yarn: DK weight yarn 233 yds (255 m)/100 g wool or wool blend, 2 colors are needed, each color 150 (size M) or 180 (size L) yds (135-165 m)
Sample made with Sueño Hikoo 80% Superwash Merino 20% Viscose from Bamboo 233 yds (255 m)/100 g, main color 1115 Cantaloupe and contract color 1136 Corny
Needles: circular needles size US 6 (4 mm) 24” (60 cm) long, one spare needle same size (DPN or short circular), US 7 (4.5 mm) two DPNs or short circular needle (if you’re a tight knitter you may need size US 8 (5 mm))
Hook: size G (4 mm)
Notions: waste yarn, tapestry needle
