As accessories go, there’s not much I love more than a dramatic cowl. This one is designed to combine the appearance of wearing a sideways knit shawlette with the ease of wearing a cowl - I call these hybrid designs cowlettes. With her gentle fade of colors, bias lines, and a touch of lace against a cozy garter backdrop, Maybelle brings the drama.

Maybelle is named for the KnitCircus colorway “Maybelene” I used for the sample shown and also after a favorite song of mine, “Maybelle” by Ida. I recommend it as perfect knitting music.

This cowlette is designed to be knit with one skein of gradient dyed yarn. The four stripes in the lace border are achieved by alternately knitting from one end of the skein or the other. The rest of the color shifts are the natural result of the way the yarn has been dyed. Choose a gradient colorway where the first and last colors have enough contrast to define the stripes in the lace. The stripes are highlighted especially well in a monochromatic colorway as shown in the sample photos.

SIZES + MEASUREMENTS
Pattern is written for one size to fit an adult female. Sample is shown on a 5’4” model who wears a size XS/SM t-shirt.

NECK OPENING: ~22” (56 cm)
CENTER-FRONT: ~19” (48 cm)

MATERIALS
YARN: 400 yds (366 m) of fingering weight yarn in a gradient colorway. Sample shown was knit with one skein of KnitCircus Yarns Lavish; (70% Merino, 20% Cashmere, 10% Nylon; 400 yards/115 gram skein) in the Maybelene colorway.

Important note on choosing yarn: This cowlette is designed to be knit with one skein of gradient dyed yarn. The four stripes in the lace border are achieved by alternately knitting from one end of the skein or the other. The rest of the color shifts are the natural result of the way the yarn has been dyed. Choose a gradient colorway where the first and last colors have enough contrast to define the stripes in the lace. The stripes are highlighted especially well in a monochromatic colorway as shown in the sample photos.
NEEDLES: 20” circular needle in US 4 (3.5 mm), 5 (3.75 mm), and 7 (4.5 mm) OR size required to obtain gauge, and needles one and three sizes larger. One dpn in smallest size.

NOTIONS: stitch marker, needle for weaving ends.

GAUGE
25 sts and 48 rows = 4” (10 cm) in garter stitch using US 4 (3.5 mm) or smallest needle.

TECHNIQUES + STITCHES
cast on , bind off & i-cord bind off (directions provided)
knit & purl
knitting in the round
simple lace from written or charted directions
picking up stitches
decrease (sl1-k2tog-psso, sl2-k1-psso, k2tog, SSK)
increase (YO)

Errata for KnitCircus Yarns publication of this pattern only
There’s a small error in the written directions for R4. It should read as follows (please note I’m substituting # for * for formatting purposes) --

Row 4 (change to CC end of yarn): K2, #(yo, k1) two times, yo, ssk three times, k2tog three times, (yo, k1) three times#, rep from # to # until 18 sts remain, (yo, k1) two times, yo, ssk three times, k2tog three times, (yo, k1) two times, yo, k2tog – 138 sts