Free Knitting Pattern: Mr. Cowl

There are tons of knit cowl patterns out there for women, but you just don’t see a lot of them for men. I guess that’s because a cowl seems girly somehow, though it really isn’t; it’s just a loop of knit fabric, almost like a scarf sewn together at the ends.

Dani Sunshine of Lioness Arts has a free pattern for a man-friendly cowl called Mr. Cowl. It’s worked in a loop in two different ribbed patterns and uses a bulky weight yarn for extra warmth. It’s a quick and easy knit for a man or a woman, but it might just be the thing to get your guy to bundle up a bit when it’s cold outside.

The pattern is available as a free PDF download from Ravelry at the link above.

[Photo via Lioness Arts.]

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Santa and Saint Nicholas generally get all the good press, but Central European kids know you don’t want to just be good so you get presents from St. Nicholas; you also want to avoid the ire of Krampus. (He’s depicted as a human-like figure with horns and usually hairy or furry who gives birch rods instead of gifts to kids who are bad.)

If you’re the type to embrace the naughty side (or you just want to scare the children into good behavior over the holidays), maybe you’ll want to knit a Krampus sweater.

This one, from Sofie Amalie Laulund, is a top down circular yoke sweater with Krampus faces at the top and cavorting Krampuses further down the body, with some traditional Scandinavian snowflakes thrown in for fun.

Because of the large motifs there’s not a lot of room for adjusting the fit, but it is available in five sizes (the Ravelry page doesn’t say what the sizing is, and it says its worked with no ease but the photo looks like the sweater has a bit of positive ease, so if you decide to make this one just check the measurements and your own comfort level for ease when picking a size).

It also uses five colors, but there’s very little red and brown so you can probably use scrap yarn for those parts. It calls for DK weight yarn. You’ll want a background color that helps the creatures stand out. You could also work the snowflake bands in different colors if you want to mix it up.

The pattern is available in both English and Danish, and you can find it on Ravelry. This is the designer’s first pattern, which kudos to them because it’s such an ambitious (and fun!) project I’m happy to add to my collection of whimsy-filled knits.

[Photo: Sofie Amalie Laulund]

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