new knitting pattern | gorse fairies cowl

This cowl was designed for me YO! So selfish. I know!

And with just one purpose in mind too, to keep my neck warm when I'm wearing my scruffy big dog walking parka. I wear this coat every day, twice a day. It has many virtues of holy coatness; big pockets and lots of them, a fuzzy warm interior, hand warmer pockets (essential) and a fur-lined hood, there is nothing not to love.

The only mildly annoying thing about this type of coat is the snorkel hood tends to be a bit bulky because it sits on your shoulders unless the hood is up. Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing. There is nothing better than doing your parka hood up and pretending to be a dalek, but when you want to wear a big scarf or shawl, it poses a bit of a problem.

I realised that I needed something warm and woolly that would sit snug in to my neck to keep me warm without creating additional bulk. And because at the same time I had noticed I was wearing my Vanishing Point mittens a lot, the idea came to make a matching set (of sorts). The mittens are so popular with me because they're made with the lovely, and very luxurious Shalimar Breathless yarn (75% superwash merino, 15% cashmere, 10% silk) and I love the sunny, yellow colour of the Little Miss Sunshine colourway.

Plus I still had 85g of the Breathless yarn left (I bought the wrong yarn for the mittens, was supposed to be DK) and so the fates decided this pairing in advance and those guys are never wrong.

The chevron stitch pattern I used was found in a vintage stitch dictionary. SO vintage that the pattern instructions were wrong! (how I love the 1960s), but I eventually figured out the stitch sequence and started knitting.

Originally I planned to start with a provisional cast-on and kitchener stitch the cowl together at the end but I abandoned that idea when I realised that the cowl was going to be worn wrapped around my neck once so any join would be rendered invisible anyway. I also decided to use straight needles because I fancied a change (as good as a rest), and it was quite strange (but nice) using them again after knitting so many socks on circulars.

The pattern is lovely and soothing, a twelve row repeat with a triple selvedge either side although I have to say that for all the many, many rows of knitting in this cowl, the pattern didn't stick! I had to read my notes at all times and I found that a bit frustrating to say the least. Usually I can pretty quickly get into the groove with a stitch pattern but nope! Not today missy.

But who cares, the finished object is divine, super soft, warm and snuggly so totally worth reading pattern notes for the entire project. Plus it fits perfectly round my neck twice and looks great inside my parka so I couldn't be happier.

The pattern is available to buy here and as it's my first knitting pattern release ever (I know, pinch me!), I have an exclusive discount for readers of my blog, just enter WALKTHEDOG at checkout to receive 20% off your purchase. Yahoo!