Some Crochet Cowls Around the Web

1) Heidi Heisl has an Etsy shop where she offers a PDF pattern for a "Mammoth Crochet Cowl." It makes the "eternity scarf"-type of cowl look very warm and fun to wear--you just coil it around as many times as you like and it would fit around the bulkiest coat collars.

ALERT - ALERT -  FREE CROCHET PATTERN  - ALERT - ALERT 

2) Go check out Angryolive's Twisted Cowl. This one's a mobius-style cowl. (In this case, that special mobius twist is created after the crocheting, when you seam it.) The pattern is right there at angryolive's livejournal page.


3) And finally, have a look at this hooded cowl for men. OK yes, it's knitted--machine knitted I'm sure. But wouldn't it be fun and easy to crochet?

Everyone keeping their necks warm? It's cold even here in Florida!

New Release: Crochet a Spiraling Orbit Cowl!

Crocheting this mesh rib stitch in a spiral sure has momentum! I really picked up speed while crocheting it: no joining, no turning, no counting stitches to slow things down.

To make it even more addictive, you only crochet into every other stitch, and this makes for an especially soft, stretchy cowl-neckscarf-capelet-hooded-shoulderwarmer-snood-wimple-thing.

The Orbit Cowl crochet pattern is fully customizable and includes the "how-tos" along the way. You can see some styling and color editing experiments in its online photo album.

I'm just now thinking that I could have written it for many yarn weights! The one shown uses an "aran-weight" (kind of "chunky weight" or heavy worsted) and a J-US10-6mm crochet hook. (Isn't it great how the self-striping yarn* looks?) The customizing how-tos in the pattern should help with substituting any yarn.

Well, dangnabbit: why not go super chunky? A big crochet hook too--probably bigger than an L, say an M or N (9mm or 10mm) crochet hook. The 'orbiting' ribs would certainly make a statement, huh?


*Crystal Palace Mochi Plus (80% merino wool, 20% nylon): 300 yards were needed for the size shown.
I also uploaded it to my Ravelry Store today.

Update

It's been 2 or 3 years since I wrote this post. It turns out that I wear Orbit more often than most of the others I've crocheted. I added a drawstring at the neck opening. I also often wear it pulled up like a hood. (When I wear a different cowl, it's when there's a fierce biting wind. That's when I turn to the wind-blocking Thaxton hood.)

Crochet a "Lariat Cowl"

What a fun idea! I was minding my own business sipping an Americano with a bit of vanilla sugar, and I received a Google Alert for "crochet cowls patterns." When I saw "Lariat of Roses" I had to click.

The designer is Emi Harrington and she has an Etsy shop called Hectanooga here. You can check out the photo and pattern particulars here. Here's what it says in the description:

"VERY EASY, BEGINNER LEVEL, LARIAT OF ROSES.
This pattern can be made up in about 45 minutes!
It is all done in one continuous strip."

This design gets poetry points for blurring distinctions between cowls, necklaces, and scarves, and also for the heady "Lariat of Roses" name :-)

Now I'm going back to getting another crochet cowl pattern of my own ready for release this week. Maybe today! And a Tunisian cowl soon.

Icelandic Cowl

Icelandic Cowl started as a beautiful ball of Madeline Tosh- Tosh Sock in the colorway Iceberg.The name of the cowl is just a play on the colorway name.
Again, this cowl showcases my love for the mobius.  It also works from the center out using a 2 row repeat and finishes with a beautiful scalloped edging. The yarn has a subtle monochromatic variegation to it which in my minds eye gives the look of sunlight rippling on ice.
This cowl is sized in Small (40 inch Bust) Medium (46 inch Bust) and Large (53 inch Bust)
Wear it as a shawl, cowl or even twist up to cover your ears.
You can purchase this shawl on Patternfish or Ravelry for $6.00

Simple Pattern, Popular Results!

The Soulful Seas Mobius Cowl came into being last winter when the owner of my LYS, Great Yarns! asked me to create something other than socks with Conjoined Creations Flat Feet Yarn.

After perusing the color choices, and with hand dyed yarns there are PLENTY, I chose this gorgeous blue that reminded me of the sea.  With only 400 yards of sock weight yarn, what could I make?

As a computer geek, math and all its complexities has always been of interest to me.  From geometry to computer programing, Math has always been a part of my life.  As much as I even complain about grading garment patterns, I always end up caught in the math.  The mobius shape, the symbol of infinity, always was a favorite.  Thus the cowl was born.

Made with a simple pattern stitch (just 2 repeated rows!) the cowl can be worn in a multitude of ways.  Wear it as a shawl around the shoulders.  Wrap it around the head to keep warm.  Loop it twice around the neck to keep warm. Or even just hanging down as a long continuous scarf with no end.

What I love about this pattern?  It grows from the center out.. there is NO SEWING other than burying the ends at the beginning and end.

The pattern is now available from Ravelry and Patternfish for Download! $6.00

Cowls make great "firsts."

Often, beginning crocheters are given a traditional, simple scarf pattern to follow as their first project. Maybe teachers think a scarf gives the crocheter LOTS of practice; they do seem to go on forever. I've found that making a scarf can be quite frustrating to beginners for a couple of reasons: it's hard for beginners to always make even edges, and scarves don't give that sense of completion and accomplishment that new crocheters need since they take some time to complete.

Enter cowls! A cowl is the perfect thing to rescue a new crocheter. Because it can be done in a spiraled round, there are no edges to worry about. It also is nearly as fast to make as a hat, but requires no shaping. Here's a simple cowl recipe you can use the next time you're teaching a friend to crochet:

Step 1: Make a chain between 24 and 28" long depending on how loose you want your cowl.

Step 2: Work in spiraled single crochet or half-double crocheted rounds until the cowl is the height you want: 12" works well, but taller is nice too. [Variation: work in the back loop to get a smoother, drapier fabric].

Fasten off, weave in your ends, and you're done!

[The cowl shown above is my Cosmopolitan Cowl pattern.]

Southern Lights Cowl

I love cowls. Seriously. Being a Florida girl, scarves just aren't practical for us. We only get to wear them for maybe a few weeks out of the year, and even then it's only for the few minutes between vehicles to buildings. But a cowl, especially made in a lightweight yarn, can be worn whenever. And you don't look like you forgot to take off your scarf when you came in a building.

I designed the Southern Lights Cowl at the beginning of this year. The yarn I used, Crystal Palace Yarns Mini Mochi, literally jumped off the shelf at my LYS and demanded to be made into a cowl. Not only that, it demanded to be made into a nifty mobius cowl. Always one to listen to my yarns, I obliged. The result was the Southern Lights Cowl (so named because the colors reminded me of a darker version of the Northern Lights and I live in the South).

This cowl works up quickly (only 15 rows, no turning!) and would make a great gift. In honor of that (and my favorite month of the year), the Fibers By Tracie group on Ravelry is having a Crochet-a-Long for the SLC. You can find all the details here on Ravelry.

The pattern is available as a download on Ravelry for only $4.00. That and 400 yards of fingering weight yarn will make a great gift for someone (or yourself). So won't you join us in the CAL? Cowls are hot right now and you can make one for your very own! :)