I love knitting as a way to unwind and calm my brain, so I like always having something simple to pick up and put down without having to constantly refer back to the pattern. I get bored with endless stockinette, though. Therefore, I tend to gravitate towards patterns that are roughly 80% a monotonous stitch pattern so I can shut my brain off, and 20% an interesting stitch pattern to get my brain thinking a little bit. I like it when every so often something interesting happens, which is the formula for this simple cowl.

Knit in two colors, the bulk of the cowl is knit in stockinette stitch, and every five rounds you either do an eyelet round or a purl round, holding two strands of yarn together. It provides the perfect mix of knitting you don’t have to pay attention to and something different to do occasionally, making it the perfect thing to pick up when you just want a couple minutes of mindless knitting.

Finished dimensions
32” circumference x 7” tall (80 x 17.5 cm)

Gauge
4 x 4” (10 x 10 cm) = 20 stitches x 36 rounds in pattern repeat, knit in the round on larger needles, blocked.

Yarn
MC: 161 yds (35 g) Knit Picks Palette fingering weight yarn (100% Peruvian Highland Wool; 231 yds per 50 g) in Huckleberry Heather
CC: 92 yds (20 g) Knit Picks Palette fingering weight yarn (100% Peruvian Highland Wool; 231 yds per 50 g) in Shire Heather

Needles
US 6/4.0mm 16” circular needles or DPNs for main stitch pattern
US 4/3.5mm 16” circular needles or DPNs for garter stitch edging

Notions
1 stitch marker to mark BOR
Tapestry needle

This pattern has been professionally tech edited and test knit.

To see tester photos and yarn choices, read this blog post: https://jennabarron.com/blog/introducing-a-little-pick-me-up-cowl