Have fun working this mosaic color work pattern to make an attractive and cozy cowl in either size. Choose two colors with lots of contrast, or go more subtle if that’s more your style. Mosaic knitting makes a double thick fabric, so working with worsted weight yarn results in a chunky weight cowl. In this case, the stitch pattern is identical on both sides!

Mosaic knitting uses just one color per round. Both colors are attached but one is worked and the other is carried up at the beginning of round. Stitches are slipped or knit or purled in pattern. The slipped stitches get elongated and also give the color work fabric a textured and layered appearance.

Shipwreck cowl uses the same mosaic pattern as my Hamlin hat design, so you could make a cool coordinated color work accessory set! The hats modeled in photos are my Hat Trick design using colors Stonewash and Winter Birch in Three Irish Girls Springvale Bulky.

The mosaic pattern and textured blocks in this cowl remind me of the rigging of old tall sailing ships. The ropes and masts were the tools for a crew harnessing the ocean’s winds in order to navigate their way around the globe. Shipwreck is a tribute to the fictional Pequod, a whaling ship from Nantucket made famous by Melville for the story of her fate when sunk at sea by the great white Moby Dick.

Three Irish Girls Yarn colors used in modeled samples:
Matching pair of Regular and Large sizes use George Bailey for color 1 & Stonewash for color 2 (1 skein each color for Regular size and 2 skeins each color for Large size)
Regular size red and grey sample uses 1 skein each of Marmalade for color 1 & Dorian Grey for color 2