The Maerdy Mountain Cowl has been designed using beautiful yarn hand dyed in an eponymous colourway by Michelle from Woolly Wumpkins.

As soon as I saw the yarn that Michelle had expertly dyed using ‘all of the greens with a hint of the mountain stone’ (Source @woollywumpkins Instagram page), I knew I had to design a cowl specifically for this yarn! Generations of my family have been born, lived and died in the shadow of Maerdy Mountain. Our children have been born, grown up, worked and had children of their own in the shadow of this special mountain.

When I began designing the cowl, I wanted to evoke the twists and turns of the road of that runs over the mountain between the Dare and Rhondda valleys as well as the mist and sheep that are frequently seen atop the mountain!

I began with a provisional cast on and then used a beautiful feather and fan stitch before the two colour cable and finally the feather and fan stitch once more before grafting the two ends together with Kitchener Stitch. As usual, this pattern is both charted and written out so you can choose your favourite method of following the pattern.

I’ve tried so leave some blank space in the pattern where, so you have room to make notes etc if you decide to print the pattern out.

This pattern uses just 27g (115m/126yd) of the Main Colour and 11g (44m/48yds) of the Contrast Colour so it’s perfect for using up that little bit of sock yarn you’ve got leftover from your favourite socks!.