Giant pandas spend around 10-16 hours per day eating mainly bamboo, which forms 99% of their diet, so it felt like the perfect backdrop to this design! Pandas typically live a solitary life, but look closely and you’ll find three hiding in this cowl, camouflaged in the shade of the bamboo forest.

A beginner friendly colourwork pattern, this single-sided stranded colourwork cowl is knit in the round using two colours., from the bottom up and edged with simple 1x1 ribbing. With short floats in most instances, and a repetitive background pattern, interrupted by small breaks, it makes a great first-time colourwork project.
There are three decorative borders to choose from (placed top and bottom) and one main chart which repeats 3 times around the cowl.
All of the charts are read from the bottom up, right to left, and are available in both standard (light MC) and inverted (dark MC) versions, dependent on the yarn combination you choose to work with. Feel free to mix and match the borders as you please!

Techniques include long-tail cast on, 1x1 ribbing, stranded colourwork in the round, and 1x1 ribbing bind-off.

Size One size.
Finished Measurements:
12” h x 13” w flat lay, or 26” circumference
Gauge:
24 st x 24 rows per 4in / 10cm
Gauge is in colourwork after blocking.

Yarn and Yardage
Two (2) contrasting colours in DK weight yarn

Approximate Yardage Required
Note: (this may vary slightly depending on the chosen border(s)) :
246 yards / 225 meters in MC: Main Colour (background)
126 yards / 115 meters in CC: Contrasting colour (colourwork)
The sample uses: Pickle and Twist Merino/Nylon DK in Chopsticks (Cream) and Deep in the Bamboo Forest (Teal) but any DK weight yarn that meets the gauge will be suitable.

Suggested Needles
24” / 60cm circular needles in size US 6 / 4mm or any needle size that achieves the gauge.
(Optional, for ribbing) 24” / 60cm circular needles in size US 4 / 3.5mm (or one / two sizes down from your main needle size)
Notions
Tapestry needle, 3 stitch markers (1 contrasting for BOR), Scissors

Thank you for choosing my pattern! Please feel free to share your creations on Ravelry and Instagram using the hashtag #PeekingPandaCowl and tagging me @Knot.Tired
You are welcome to sell any items you make from this pattern, but be sure to credit me as the designer if you do - Thanks!