Sometimes we forget the amazing work museums do in storing and redistributing knowledge and traditions of old. The San Telmo is a museum in Donostia-San Sebastian, a place where they keep all manner of bits and pieces, ethnological data that would be lost otherwise. Some time ago they published a book about the XIX century bed covers of Tolosaldea, adding to the very interesting ethnological work the author recovered the cross stitch patterns of those bed covers, called oazala.

This straightforward colorwork cowl takes one of those cross stitch patterns and adapts it to knitting, and testknitters Kukufrakak, Nareta and itziartxu say that it can be very entertaining. It’s worked in the round, creating a tube of fabric that it’s grafted when finished, creating a snug, warm and comfortable cowl, for those cold early winter mornings. The two versions my dear friend and testknitter Itziar shows here are made with the same yarn, but different color combinations. One follows the traditional blue over white color scheme, and the other one follows a more subdued and discreet green on dark grey.

Techniques you need to know: Stranded color knitting, catching floats, working in the round, provisional crochet cast on, and Kitchener stitch.