One of the winners of the Feel Good Yarn Company Design Challenge, January 2017!

My Summer Monsoon Cowl design was inspired by the life-giving rains that come in summer to the high mountain desert of New Mexico. I’ve adapted symbols from our ancient petroglyphs – zigzags of lightning, vertical lines of downrushing rain, and checkerboards of snow/rain mix – to express the joy we all feel when the rain comes!

This small, lightweight cowl is knit top-down in the round and while it might look complicated, the stranded colorwork is super easy and fast to knit – the floats are all short so no need to tack them down, mirror repeats simplify the pattern, and my design eliminates any worries about color jogs at the end-of-round joins.

As a bonus, the corded look of the edging gives a finished appearance without the extra work of I-cord.

I’ve written this pattern to take advantage of the nylon reinforcement in the stretchy SilverSpun® cotton yarn, which gives the cowl body to stand up and show off its geometry. And I’ve included suggestions for easy ways to change the dimensions to make it yours.

Yarn Used to Knit Sample:
2 skeins Silverspun® Sport, one in Starry Night and one in Sterling Indigo, 50g/173 yards each. Knit as writ, you’ll use all but a few yards.

Tools You’ll Need:
US 5 needle tips on 24” circular cable
4 stitch markers (1 BOR, 1 Side, 2 Panel Ends)

Finished Measurements (Unstretched):
Top Circumference: 21 inches
Bottom Circumference: 28 inches
Height: 8 inches