After spending most of my adult life in Ireland, I became an Irish citizen this summer. In normal times, the last step in obtaining citizenship is a swearing-in ceremony held in the town of Killarney, Co. Kerry. The ceremonies have been suspended because of the pandemic, so instead I decided to celebrate by creating a piece of knitting that would be as Irish as possible. Thus was born the Killarney Cowl: green, of course, made with beautiful tweedy Irish yarn from Studio Donegal and featuring a cable pattern on a rustic seed stitch background. And injected with some simple, unfussy efficiency worthy of the German half of my identity: The cable pattern is in fact made up of twisted stitches that can be worked without a cable needle.

The cowl is worked in the round from the bottom up. It starts with an I-cord cast-on from which the stitches for the cowl are picked up. The stitches forming the cable design are slipped in every second row in order to make them stand out more. The I-cord bind-off at the top mirrors the cast-on.

SIZE AND FIT
Adult one size.

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Height: 30 cm/12 inches
Circumference: 72 cm/28.5 inches

YARN
Studio Donegal Soft Donegal (100% merino wool; 190 m/210 yds per 100 g/3.6 oz skein); colour: #5525 Juniper Green, 330 m/361 yds ≙ 2 skeins.
This yardage includes a 15 x 15 cm/6 x 6 inch swatch plus a 5% allowance.
The design will work well with any worsted weight yarn with good stitch definition.

NEEDLES & NOTIONS
Always use a needle size that gives you the gauge listed below.

• 5 mm/US size 8 circular needle, 60 cm/24 inches long
• 4 mm/US size 6 circular needle, 60 cm/24 inches long
• stitch marker
• tapestry needle

GAUGE
16 sts and 25 rows ≙ 10 cm/4 inches in stockinette stitch (worked in the round, blocked)
20 sts and 34 rows ≙ 10 cm/4 inches in pattern (Chart 2, worked in the round, blocked)

TECHNIQUES USED

• knit/purl
• twisted stitches
• knitting in the round
• picking up stitches
• I-cord cast-on and bind-off (instructions included)