Half Way Wrong Way Cowl

Yesterday and into this morning, I knitted two cowls.  One I used a pattern I found on Raverly, and I'll talk about it in a later post.  The other pattern is a pattern I kind of sort of made up by accident. And I love, love, LOVE it!  I couldn't be happier with the way this cowl turned out, and I'm going to share the long, sorded details with you today. Don't you just love that?!

I know you can't wait, so let's get started.

 I call this pattern the Half Way Wrong Way Cowl because as I was working on it I realized at about half way through I switched the way I was knitting up the piece.  Instead of frogging the cowl, again for the 3rd time, I decided to go with it and see what I got.  The outcome was pretty darn cool.

First, the yarn is a 100% Wool super bulky thick to thin, hand spun, hand dyed yarn that I found on Etsy.  The seller's shops is Absolute Knits, and as soon as I saw it I fell in love with the wild colors.

I noticed she doesn't have the yarn listed anymore so I obviously wasn't the only person who fell in love.


So I knew I wanted to knit a cowl with this yarn as soon as I saw it, and I at first thought I wanted to knit the other cowl I mentioned earlier with it.  I soon realized that wouldn't work.  So I tried to figure out how exactly I wanted the cowl to look.

As luck would have it, a while back I'd bought some fun, bright colored buttons and an idea started to wiedle it's way in.  I was pretty certain those buttons would match the yarn.  And if that was the case then the cowl didn't have to be a closed cowl.  I could attach the buttons and wear it in many different styles.

So that's what I did.

 I know, I know.  It seems like I've jumpped ahead of myself.  So here goes the pattern.

Half Way Wrong Way Cowl

Use a super chunky/bulky yarn of your choice.
Size 17 US or 12.75MM Needles

Cast On 11 stitches

Repeat these rows until your peice measures 10 inches.

Odd Row - Knit(K) 1 Purl (P) 1 to end of row

Even Row - P1, K1 to end of row

Once your piece measures 10 inches switch the order of your knitting.

Odd Row - P1, K1 to end

Even Row - K1, P1 to end

Once your cowl measures 20 inches Bind Off using a K1 Purl 1 bind off.

Next, using a piece of your left over material, sew on your buttons.

By doing this switch halfway through the piece, it creates a ridge. See the second photo up top there.  But if you look at the third photo, the switch gives the front of the piece a very nice cushy appearance.  Also by doing this, you don't have to worry about button holes.  The ribbed valleys gives the buttons a nice place to rest so that they pop! And you can just slip through the stitches. Viola! No button holes required.

I can see me wearing this a lot this winter.  And I can't wait!!