From Kristin’s blog post:

This cowl was inspired by three things. I wanted a scarf that would keep my neck warm in the upcoming months of cold, but that would lay flat in my pea coat… or maybe not have to be tucked into my neckline at all. The issue though is that little area on my neck that my coat doesn’t quite cover up, but a scarf wrapped around my neck will not either, so tucked in it goes… adding more bulk to my already bulked up winter weather form. So that was inspiration number one. The second inspiration came from my own stash. As always, that question of what to do with skeins of yarn that are 25g or less. Especially when you have 20+ of them. I dug around in my bin and realized that for a cowl I would have even shorter yardage if I bulked up the yarn, several 25 skeins together. I wanted a little fuzz, but not a ton, so I settled on Rowan kid mohair, Catalina 4 ply alpaca (the little bit left over from the shawl I just finished, the leftovers from my last pair of socks, and some random nubby tweedy vintage wool. I chose the yarns based on color and texture. Soft, thick, fall, september blue skies. The result is the Aceraceae Cowl, the family that the red maple comes from.