Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Irish Mesh Knit Cowl


At the Rose City Yarn Crawl this year, I was lucky enough to discover Thoroughly Thwacked yarns!  (Edit:  This company's name has been changed to Fierce Fibers.  The above link will still take you there.)Stacey is the Oregon artist behind this indie line and what a palette of colors!!  If you haven't run across her yarn before, you have to take a look on her website at the gorgeous colorways and the hilariously entertaining names.  Like Pastry Bandit, Poison Apple, and Bruised Fairy.  Every name has a backstory - I got to visit with her for a short while and hear about the man on an overpass throwing chocolate frosted/rainbow sprinkled pastries onto the cars below and inspiring Pastry Bandit.  Seriously I could've listened to how they all were named - she needs to publish these!  It was hard to decide which one to buy, but since St. Patrick's Day is coming up and I seem to be short of green to wear, I chose Paddy Cake.


I designed this simple cowl using it.  It's long enough to be looped twice or you can just let it hang around your neck as an accent.  Mine is about 5 inches wide when blocked and used about 300 yards - if you'd like to make yours wider, there is plenty of yarn to do that with.  And if you'd rather make yours a shorter cowl, just make sure you cast on a multiple of three plus one.

Materials:
1 skein fingering weight yarn.  I used Thoroughly Thwacked's Vixen, a super soft merino/silk blend.
Size 5 circular needles
Stitch marker

Cast on 301 300.  Edit:  Cast on should be 300 not 301 stitches - let me know if this still does not work.  Join to form a circle, being careful not to twist into a moebius.  Or if that happens anyway, decide you wanted a moebius cowl afterall!  Place stitch marker and begin.

Set up rows:
Row 1:  knit all the way around
Row 2:  purl all the way around 
Row 3:  knit
Row 4:  purl

Mesh section:
Row 1:  Knit (k) 2, *yarn over (yo), slip 1, k2, pass slip stitch over both knit stitches.*  Repeat instructions between *'s until you have 1 stitch left - knit this stitch.
Row 2:  Purl
Row 3:  K1, *slip 1, k2, pass slip stitch over both knit stitches, yo*.  Repeat instructions between *'s until you have 2 stitches left - knit these stitches.
Row 4:  Purl

Repeat rows 1 - 4 of the mesh section until cowl is the desired width.  End by repeating the set up rows and then bind off.  Give the cowl a fairly aggressive blocking to open up the mesh.


Happy Creating!  Deborah

3 comments:

  1. Hello. Its a lovely pattern. Have you made any corrections to it? I've ripped it out 2 times and am about to start a third.
    If you do the math for row 1...knit two, then repeat a 3 stitch pattern...with 301 stitches, you will have TWO left, not ONE. Likewise, the math for row 2, says if you knit one, and then repeat a 3 stitch pattern...you'll have ZERO left, not 2.
    Based on the above, I'm not sure which is the best way to adjust the number of stitches...if at all...to have the pattern without an obvious break from the pattern. Appreciate any advice.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Charlotte! I'm not in the same place as the computer I have the original pattern stored on and haven't knit this in some time, so this has taken me a bit of time to work out!

      As near as I can tell, it's the 301 cast on stitches that is in error. With 300 cast on stitches, you work 5 stitches and then settle in to a 3 stitch repeat ending with 1 stitch to knit. Then on Row 3, you work 3 stitches and settle in to a 3 stitch repeat leaving the two stitches to knit.

      I have not been able to test this out with needles and yarn but have changed the instructions pending me seeing if this actually works!

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  2. My favorite line--decide you wanted a moebius cowl after all!! lol I've done that more times than I've managed to keep it straight!

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