We all have one. That bag, box or huge plastic tote filled with leftover balls from past projects – little scraps accumulated that we just can’t bear to part with.

I had finished making a large shawl project and was getting ready to add the remaining balls into my bin. Seeing it was almost full, I decided I should use up these scraps and make something.

I had about 120 grams of yarn left and knew I could make a nice sized Moebius cowl from it, so I quickly made up this pattern, cast it on and made the blue version of the cowl.

I loved it and I knew I had to make another one! So I dived into my bin and pulled out the twelve colors used in the red-orange version. I joined them together using the Magic Knot Ball method and worked away.

And thus Knoop was born!

The big fun with this pattern is finding your yarns, sorting them into a color progression you like and making up the ball you’ll work from. I’ve written a tutorial to help guide your color choices so that the finished result looks the way you’d like it to.

Once the first couple rounds are completed the rest of the cowl is an easy, relaxing knit. The seed stitch pattern used blends the colors together and makes for more subtle color transitions.

The size of the cowl can easily be changed by altering your needle size, amount of yarn used and the number of stitches cast on.

Knoop comes in two difficulty levels. The Mellow version is entirely straightforward; it’s a jump-in-right-awa easy project. The Piquant version uses a clever cast on that takes a bit more skill and effort. The difference between the two is in the color distribution. The Piquant version is worked as a true Moebius, meaning that you’re knitting from the center towards the outer edges, so you get to see the last color of your Magic Knot Ball on both edges of the cowl. The Mellow version shows your colors in the order they appear in the ball from the top to the bottom of the cowl. Both versions will create a wonderful one-of-a-kind cowl with fun color changes and an easy-to-wear twist.