Interrupted Stripe Cowl

Interrupted Stripe Cowl

Sometimes I want to make a fancy-pants project with an intricate stitch pattern and a lot of shaping. And sometimes I just want to make a basic, straightforward cowl while I watch bad television and put up my feet. The Interrupted Stripe Cowl is just such a project, using three colors of worsted weight yarn and nothing more complicated than your basic knit and purl. And the best part is that it still looks (at least a little bit) fancy!

Yarn: Berroco Fuji (38% Silk, 25% Cotton, 22% Rayon, 15% Nylon; 125 yards [115 meters]/50 grams); #9203 Sandy - one skein (color A), #9247 Pacific - one skein (color B), & #9263 Deep Sea - one skein (color C)

A close-up of the stripes. Interrupted.

Needles: One 16" circular needle in size US 7

Notions: Tapestry needle, stitch marker

Gauge: 20 stitches = 4 inches

So let's make a cowl! Using your color A yarn, then, cast on 110 stitches, place marker, and join in round. And then we'll continue like so: 

Row 1: using color A, knit

Row 2: using color A, purl

Ribbon Cable Socks

Ribbon Cable Socks

It's been days, at least, since I last mentioned my obsession with Malabrigo yarn. Therefore I'll this opportunity to say it again: I am obsessed with Malabrigo yarn. Especially this lovely Arroyo fiber, a sport-weight superwash that, for me at least, knit up slightly smaller than gauge. And speaking of gauge, these socks are designed for a sport-weight fiber, but you will, as always with something as finicky as socks, want to check your gauge. And remember that your dpn knitting will probably look better on a thicker fiber knit with smaller needles than the opposite, so I would definitely try to gauge down a slightly larger fiber before I'd try to gauge up a finer fiber. Am I making any sense here? Feel free to hit me up with questions in the comments; in the meantime, let's get to the pattern.

Update: Please note that I updated gusset rows 6 & 12 and body rows 2 & 8 on May 31, 2017. :)

Sizes: adult small (adult medium; adult large) (for the record, small corresponds to the following US shoe sizes: women's 5 - 7 and men's 4 - 6, medium corresponds to women's 8 - 10 and men's 7 - 9, and large corresponds to women's 11 - 14 and men's 10 - 13)

Yarn: Malabrigo Arroyo (100% Superwash Merino Wool; 335 yards [305 meters]/100 grams); #046 Prussia Blue - one skein

A better view of the ol' snockerinos.
Not that anybody calls them that.

Needles: One set of double pointed needles in size US 4, cable needle (cn) or dpn for cabling

Notions: Tapestry needle, stitch holder or scrap of yarn for holding stitches

Gauge: 24 stitches = 4 inches in stockinette

So let's make some socks! Of course, before we get to that, I should mention that I'm using Ann Budd's delightful Getting Started Knitting Socks (Getting Started series) for the sizing and basic design elements of these socks, as well as a couple of Ribbon Stitch cables from page 245 of Barbara G. Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns for the stitch pattern. And now that that's covered, let's actually make those socks!

First, then, using a Long-Tail or an Old Norwegian Cast-On (for stretch) and your dpns, cast on 48 (52; 56) stitches, divide between 3 dpns as follows: 15, 18, 15 ([17, 18, 17]; [19, 18, 19]), and join in round. And since we're getting straight to the pattern, we'll need the following notation:

Jardin Cowl

Jardin Cowl

Okay, I've committed a cardinal knitting sin with this cowl. Namely, I've called for two skeins even though I BARELY needed any of the second one to complete it. However, I just couldn't bear to finish this brightly colored beauty early, so I sucked it up and went for the second hank. On the plus side, that means that those of you using a different yarn for the Jardin Cowl will only need about 200 yards (and could probably squeak by at 175 as well). And if you want to use the same yarn, well, you'll face the same choice I did; quit early with one skein or find another use for what's left over (which, let's face it, you'll almost certainly be seeing sooner or later on this site anyway).

Yarn: Cascade 220 Sport (100% Peruvian Highland Wool; 164 yards [150 meters]/50 grams); #8910 Citron - two skeins

A better look at the cables.
Pretty little things, aren't they?

Needles: One 16" circular needle in size US 6

Notions: Tapestry needle, three stitch markers

Gauge: 22 stitches = 4 inches

So let's get started! Using your circular needle, cast on 148 stitches loosely. Then we'll knit one marker placement row, as follows:

Marker Placement Row: k62, place marker, (p2, k9) twice, p2, place marker, knit until end of round

And once that little beast is done, we'll move straight to our pattern, which incorporates a strip of Round Link Cables from page 132 of Barbara G. Walker's Charted Knitting Designs: A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns, as well as some decreases for shaping. So first we'll define our terminology, as follows:

round link cable (rlc): slip 6 stitches to cn and hold in front, k3, then slip the middle 3 stitches (of the 9 total) from cn back to left-hand needle; move cn with final 3 stitches to the back of the work; k3 from left-hand needle, then k3 from cn

And then we'll work like so: