I designed my Starlight Mountains Cowl & mittens for a friend who frequently goes hiking in the Rockies. I wanted to knit up a landscape to match those he might see on just such a hike – a lake slightly ruffled by a breeze, a mountain range, a few wisps of cloud, and a beautiful sky full of stars. The stitch pattern I used for the back of the mittens puts me in mind of my own adventures with mountains in the starlight. When I lived in Japan, I got the chance to go to the top of Mount Rokko in Kobe at night. It was an absolutely stunning view, but, try as I might, I just couldn’t get a good picture of it with the camera I had with me. Eventually, I gave up and just looked at the view, trying to soak the beauty into my memory. This cowl design is a reminder of that gorgeous, uncapturable moment. Even better, the colorwork on this cowl is done with mosaic knitting, which makes it a breeze to knit through. I love how quickly mosaic patterns knit up and how beautiful, stretchy, and squishy the finished product always is. Knit up this cowl and you’ll always have a bit of starlight to keep you warm no matter what mountains you climb.

If you haven’t yet experienced the magic of mosaic knitting, never fear! This is a great pattern to learn how to knit mosaic with - detailed introductions to mosaic knitting and mosaic charts are provided, along with full written-out versions of each chart.

Check out my Starlight Mountains Hat and Starlight Mountains Mittens if you’d like a matching set! They can all be purchased together at a discount in the Starlight Mountains Mosaics eBook.

Techniques Used with Tutorials Provided:
Mosaic Knitting

Yarn Used:
Malabrigo Yarn Rios
(Worsted / 10 ply; 100% superwash merino wool; 210 yd 192 m per 100 g skein)

Main Color (MC): Pearl; 1 skein
Contrast Color (CC): Azul Profundo; 1 skein

Needles:
US 7 / UK 7 / 4.5 mm 16” circular needle

Notions:
Stitch markers, yarn needle

Yardage Estimates from Sample:
MC: 80 yd (73 m), 38 g
CC: 97 yd (89 m), 46 g

Final Measurements:
Circumference: 22.5” (57 cm)
Length: 9.5” (23 cm)

This pattern has been tech edited and test knit.

I would like to extend a very special thank you to my fabulous technical editor, tricotedit, and my wonderful, helpful test knitter, TManiluwhuaRivers. Arigatou gozaimasu!