The 2018 Lerwick Up Helly Aa in Shetland was a special year for our family with my first cousin’s husband in the role of lead Viking, the Guizer Jarl. My cousin asked me to design and knit hats and cowls for a few wives and girlfriends of the Jarl’s squad. This cowl, with its motif inspired by the squad’s unique outfit, evolved from those commissions. I love blending colours in corrugated rib and challenged myself to use purple as I rarely knit with it. Combined with other jewel tones it creates a vibrant, warm, and uplifting effect.
This cowl is knit in the round with no more than 2 colours in each row. It has a folded picot hem with corrugated rib above and below a Fair Isle motif.

Techniques used are knitting in the round, colourwork and corrugated ribbing. The only rows where I have ‘caught a float’ are rows 3 and 13 of chart B where there is a stretch of 7 background stitches together.
Yarn A - Mantilla (517) 1 x 25g ball
Yarn B - Zodiac (599) 1 x 25g ball
Yarn C - Lipstick ( 575) 1 x 25g ball
Yarn D - Apple (785) 1 x 25g ball
Yarn E - Buttercup (182 ) 1 x 25g ball