This cowl is inspired by the lace motif of blooming clusters, and the beautiful colors of hand dyed yarns. I wanted to showcase both of these elements, making sure to use up every last bit of the yarn (who likes leftovers, right?), and make a cowl that is enjoyable to make, as well as beautiful to wear.

Starting with Lace Section, the cowl transitions into a simple Fisherman’s Rib Section (that looks like Brioche stitch, but is much easier to knit), and finishes off with an Open Mesh Section.

Combination of these patterns not only keeps the project fun and engaging, but serves a design purpose, creating a funnel shape that gives this cowl many styling choices. You could wear it as a traditional cowl, gathered around the neck for warmth and volume, or draped over shoulders as a capelet, or even pulled up as a hood.

Paring a skein of your favorite hand dyed yarn with a solid color, showcases the yarn, while maintaining an overall neutral feel. The cowl was designed to use 200g of sport weight yarn, but you could experiment with other yarn weights as well, that will give you a slightly bigger or smaller circumference, adjusting the length of each section to make the best use of your yardage.

Sample was knit using 100g of my own hand dyed yarn + 100g of Patons Kroy Sock yarn. A good substitute for the hand dyed yarn is Malabrigo Arroyo, that comes in many beautiful colors.

Level: adventurous beginner
Sizes: 17” long, 31” circumference at the neck
Gauge: gauge is not essential for this project; in the sample, each lace repeat is 3” wide and 2.5” tall.

Materials
US size 4 (3.5 mm) circular needle, 16” cord or larger.
200g of Sport weight yarn; sample made with
Color A - Paton Kroy Socks, 166 yds /50 g, in color Flax, 2 balls.
Color B Hand Dyed Sport, 274 yds /100 g, in color Dessert Flower, 1 ball.
Stitch marker, Tapestry needle, Tape measure, Scissors.