Ridge Top Echo was designed at the request of a friend. She had 3 coordinating skeins of yarn in her stash and wanted to make a cowl that would incorporate all of them about equally. She also requested that the cowl in some way symbolize the hilliness of our beloved Appalachian foothills.

Ridge Top Echo is a garter stitch cowl which is worked modularly. First, in the central portion of the cowl are hour-glass curves which are created using simple increases and decreases (the hills and valleys of my region). The sides of the cowl fill in the valleys created by the central portion with short rows.

Ridge Top Echo requires 3 colors of worsted weight yarn. It’s shown here in Chroma in the colorways Red Velvet, Fog Bank and Black. It comes in 4 sizes ranging from 24 inches to 60 inches in circumference–each of which can be made with a single ball of each color (the various sizes use between 35 and 80 grams per color).

Finally, a free pattern for coordinating fingerless mitts is also included. These mitts can be made with the remnants from the cowl for all but the largest size–for which you will need to purchase a second ball of the black.

Techniques Used: Provisional cast on, directional increases and decreases, picking up stitches, short rows and Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind off.

Cowls use approximately 35 (50, 65, 80) grams OR 70(100, 130, 160) yards of each color