I love the look of chunky cabled cowls, particularly close-fitting ones. But I couldn’t find a pattern that was exactly what I had in mind. Some had cables that crossed too closely, some crossed too far apart, some had too many cables, some had too few, some were too loose-fitting. I also wanted the option to use different weights of yarn. Thus, this pattern was born. The original cowl was gifted to a fellow knitter at our annual Stitch ‘N Bitch swap held last Tuesday night.

The cowl can be worn scrunched down or with the edges rolled inward, creating a warm double layer of fabric.

Instructions are given for three weights of yarn (worsted, aran, and chunky). The instructions for each yarn vary slightly but the finished cowls are nearly identical in size and appearance. It is also possible to customize the finished size of the cowl. For example, if you prefer a narrower cowl, use the aran-weight instructions with worsted-weight yarn and a smaller needle. Because the cowl is worked lengthwise, it is also easy to increase the finished circumference by working more repeats of the stitch pattern.

Typo in First Version:
There was a minor typo in the instructions for the Chunky weight version. Row 7 is a plain knit row (the instructions for the stitch pattern said Row 9 instead of Row 7). The cable is worked on Row 9 which is what the original instructions said. I have updated the pattern but it is probably not necessary to print the whole pattern again if you’ve already printed it. You could just reprint page 2.

Thanks,
Susan