Bandana Cowl Knitting Patterns

I like to knit shawls, and I like the look of a shawl, but I don’t wear my knit shawls very often because they’re often a pain to keep where you want them on your body (not to mention the difficulty of eating with a giant piece of knitting wrapped around your neck!).

A great compromise is a bandana cowl, which has a triangular shape in the front but a cowl neck so you can slip it on over your head and it stays where you want it. If you’re new to this genre of knitting, allow me to introduce you to some bandana cowl knitting patterns.

You can start simple like the chunky garter stitch bandana cowl from Pixie Bell. This project uses super bulky yarn and you can have the front standing up or rolled down for extra warmth.

Or try the LYS cowl from Stitchology Shop, which uses mostly stockinette stitch with an I-cord edging and a bit of ribbing at the neck edge. This one uses DK weight yarn and is lovely in a multicolored yarn.

Of course you can add any stitch pattern or technique to one of these cowls, such as this easy eyelet pattern from Happy Dog Crafts (kind of reminds me of my winter kerchief). The original was worked in DK weight yarn but you can also use worsted weight for a little more warmth if you like.

Or how about Sweater Freak’s Endless Chances cowl (on Ravelry)? This one uses the fun and easy broken rib pattern and calls for DK weight yarn.

Add in a little color with the Creativity Cowl by Tori Yu, which uses a solid color and either a multicolored yarn or scraps to make the stripes. The original used DK weight yarn but the pattern is written so that you can use any yarn or gauge. Grab the pattern on Ravelry.

Make your bandana cowl a little more interesting with a scalloped edge like on the Asti pattern from Natasja Hornby. This fingering weight project has a pretty mosaic knit pattern along the edges and a solid color on the cowl. It’s worked flat and seamed at the back for easy wearing. Find it on Ravelry.

Play with two color brioche on a bandana cowl with this pattern from Lavanya Patricella. It’s worked in DK weight yarn and gives you practice working brioche flat and in the round.

A Simple Cowl for When You Need to Think [Knitting]

Add Some Doodles to Your Cowl with this Fun Arctic Pattern [Knitting]

There’s a lot to like about the Eloise Bandana from Katryn Seeburger. This cute little colorwork triangle can be worked as a bandana or kerchief size or a bigger shawlette.

It’s worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn so you can use whatever yarn you have in your stash and just make it as big as you can (since it is worked from the bottom up).

You can see the two sizes from the photo, and also two colorwork options: strawberries and lily of the valley.

But that’s not all the choices you have. In fact, there are 34 different charts you can choose from to knit onto your project. Some of the options include happy faces, a lobster, a pumpkin, a snail and a butterfly. There are cherries, peaches, tomatoes and radishes.

There’s even a blank square you can use to draw your own little design if you want to use something else. Or keep it blank and make it a plain checkerboard design.

And while both of these shawls use the same icons throughout, you could also use different designs throughout if you want. Say a fall version with a bat, pumpkin, leaf and acorn, or a summer beach theme with sailboat, fish, lobster and a bird? I keep suggesting four different icons because the larger size has four rows of squares, but the smaller has three, so you could do stripes of the same icon or alternate a couple of different ones, whatever you like.

Look through the finished projects on the Ravelry project page to see lots of different options, from rows to individual icons. There are also some projects that are smaller than the suggested size to make a smaller bandana. You could also keep going a make a bigger shawl working increases in the same way as you have been going.

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Katryn Seeburger]

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