All revenue goes to the Trans Justice Funding Project. “The Trans Justice Funding Project is a community-led funding initiative founded in 2012 to support grassroots, trans justice groups run by and for trans people. They make grants annually by bringing together a panel of six trans justice activists from around the country to carefully review every application they receive. They center the leadership of trans people organizing around their experiences with racism, economic injustice, transmisogyny, ableism, immigration, incarceration, and other intersecting oppressions. Every penny they raise goes to our grantees with no restrictions and no strings attached because they truly believe in trans leadership.” (From their website).

This pattern released during June 2020. A month that marked rising collective race consciousness for white Americans following the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd at the hands of the police. At the same time protests were occurring across the country, two Black trans-women, Dominique “Rem’mie” Fells and Riah Milton, were murdered in the same week.

This is a stark reminder, especially during pride month, that the Black Lives Matter movement must be intersectional. Intersectionality occurs when marginalized voices are amplified and the Trans Justice Funding Project does just that.

If you would like to donate directly to the Trans Justice Funding Project or another cause that supports trans people, you may send me a screenshot of a receipt of a donation to either my Ravelry or Instagram account (both) @chaseharpole and I will gift you the pattern.

The Spelunkin Cowl is all about exploration. Each diamond in the pattern is unique and the yardages for each diamond is incredibly low. The design encourages you to dig deep into your stash to use up those various odds and ends that are both too little to easily add to a conventional stash buster and too much to justify throwing away. The worsted weight yarn means that lighter weight yarns can easily be combined. In the spirit of exploration, a fully editable version of the chart (i.e. a spreadsheet) is made available separate from this pattern so that you may further explore both color combinations and different diamond patterning. (If you want the editable chart, you will have to reach out to me directly once you purchase. I can’t upload the file type to Ravelry, unfortunately).

The Spelunkin Cowl is knitted flat using intarsia. Either end is knitted in 2 x 2 ribbing in the round. The body is then seamed up the side. The cowl also features unique “intentional puckering” where the main color is not split when knitting intarsia and this makes each diamond appear more pronounced. Bobbins are highly recommended as the cowl works a lot of colors at once and will get very tangled. The pattern is both charted and written out.

Recommended Skill Level
Advanced Beginner to Intermediate (great if you want to try intarsia knitting)

Size
One-size

Finished Measurements
24” (60cm) circumference, 8” (20cm) tall

Yardage
13 total colors of worsted weight yarn
MC: 73 yds/30 g
CC1: 16 yds/ 7 g
CC2: 7 yds/ 3 g
CC3: 22 yds/ 10 g
CC4: 18 yds/ 8 g
CC5: 5 yds/2 g
CC6: 14 yds/6 g
CC7: 9 yds/ 4 g
CC8: 16 yds/7 g
CC9: 7 yds/3 g
CC10 9 yds/4 g
CC11: 7 yds/ 3 g
CC12: 7 yds/ 3 g

Suggested Yarns
I used Cascade 220 in the following colors for the sample, but seriously… go bananas with what you have in your stash. Use up your regrettable novelty yarn purchases, your leftover odds and ends from sock skeins, that one skein you can never find the right project for.
MC: White (8505)
CC1: Desert Flower (9682)
CC2: Soft Pink (4192)
CC3: California Poppy (7826)
CC4: Palm (2409)
CC5: Leaf Green (1002)
CC6: Neon Yellow (7828)
CC7: Goldenrod (7827)
CC8: Charcoal Grey (8400)
CC9: Silver Grey (8401)
CC10: Navy (8393)
CC11: Como Blue (9420)
CC12: Porcelain Blue (9635)

Suggested Needles
Size US 7 (4.5 mm) 24” (60 cm) circular needles
Size US 8 (5.0 mm) 24” (60 cm) circular needles

Notions
Tapestry needle
Stitch Marker
Scrap yarn or stitch holders (for optional provisional CO)
Crochet hook (for optional provisional CO)

Gauge
18 sts = 4” in stockinette, unblocked

Featured Techniques
Knitting in-the-round
Knitting flat
Bobbin creation
Intarsia colorwork
Decreasing
Seaming
Chart reading
Ribbing
Provisional cast on (optional)