Sugar & Ice Cowl

Sugar & Ice Cowl

After I posted the Sweet Strawberry Cowl, I had a few people ask me if the same thing could be done in the round. And while the Sugar & Ice Cowl is by no means the same as the Sweet Strawberry (I omitted the shaping and made it two-color with the leftover yarn from the Daisy Chain Cowl), it does share certain characteristics, including reversible mesh at the top and bottom of the piece. If desired, it could also be made one color by working the middle portion in a simple stockinette.

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Sunseeker (47% Cotton, 48% Acrylic, 5% Metallic Yarn; 237 yards [217 meters]/100 grams); #04 Silver - one skein (color A) & Schachenmayr Down to Earth Cotton (100% Cotton; 142 yards [130 meters]/50 grams); #35 Pink Peony - one skein (color B)

The back. Yup.

Needles: One 24" circular needle in size 4, one 24" circular needle in size 7


Notions: Tapestry needle, stitch marker

Gauge: 24 stitches = 4 inches on size 4 needles (roughly - the Down to Earth Cotton knits that on size 3s, but I'm not worrying too much about it. Also, this is for stockinette, and the slipped stitch pattern will have a wider gauge)

Using your color A yarn and your size 4 needle, cast on 160 stitches loosely, place marker, and join in round (please note: this design makes a cowl about 8 inches longer than the finished Sweet Strawberry. If you're looking for dimensions more like that cowl, I recommend using 20" circular needles and casting on 120 stitches to begin. The remainder of the pattern can be followed as written). Anyway, we're going to use a mesh pattern to begin with, which goes as follows:

Row 1: k1, * yo, k2tog; rep from *, end k1

Row 2: k1, * p2tog, yo *, end k1

Knit rows 1 & 2 until piece measures roughly 3" and you've just completed row 2 of the pattern. Then, knit one row around. And before we add color B, we're also going to knit one increase row, which goes as follows:

Increase Row: * k5, m1, k5 *

And now it's time to move on to our two-color pattern, which is Two-Stitch Check from page 52 of Barbara G. Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. So now we'll proceed as follows:

Rows 1 & 2: using color A, knit

Rows 3 & 4: using color B, * k2, slip 2 *

Rows 5 & 6: using color A, knit

Rows 7 & 8: using color B, * slip 2, k2 *

Knit rows 1 - 8 five times, and then clip tail for your color B yarn, since you're done with it. Using color A, knit four more rows around. Then, switch to your size 7 needle and resume the first pattern, which I've reminded you of below:

Row 1: k1, * yo, k2tog *, end k1

Row 2: k1, * p2tog, yo *, end k1

Knit rows 1 & 2 twice, and then knit row 1 one final time. Bind off and tuck in ends. For best results, block.