The Crossed Furrows Cowl was inspired by a photograph my father took of an emerging wheat field. It achieves a knitted plaid with a few easy tricks and is a fantastic way for a beginner to work with colour. Worked side-to-side and closed with three buttons, this cowl has a thick, deep fabric that won’t curl and is easier to make than it looks!

Choose a light, medium, and dark colour. You will use only one colour per row and let slipped stitches do the work for you.

Instructions are both written and charted.

Skills Used

•knit and purl
•casting on 
•binding off
•slipping sts purlwise
•buttonholes

Materials List:
•Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran: 130 yards of Moss, 70 yards of Slate, and 30 yards of Silver
•3 buttons 2cm (3/4”)
•yarn needle
•thread or fingering weight yarn for attaching buttons.

There is a link in the pattern to a YouTube video for the one-row buttonhole. Also, I wrote a blog post about choosing colours for the cowl and how the light/medium/dark tones play out as the main colour: choosing colours for the cowl.

Thanks to the DesignAlong contest for A Playful Day Podcast, Fyberspates Yarns, and Kate Atherley for the impetus to write this pattern up, and for everyone who voted and chose it as a winner!

This pattern has been tech edited and test knit.