Free Pattern: Giant Circular Cowl

If you’re suffering through a cold winter, you might not be quite ready to start a knitting project meant for spring days. And that’s OK. You’ve still got time to knit something warm and bulky and get a lot of use out of it before spring comes, I imagine.

If you’re casting about for a cowl to cast on, check out this giant Circle Cowl from Susi at Just Crafty Enough. Worked with bulky yarn and a thinner yarn held double, it uses an odd rib stitch on an even number of stitches, which makes the design spiral and not look like ribbing at all.

This would be a super easy knit that will get on and off the needles quickly, and its generous size (9 inches wide and 60 inches long) means you can loop it a couple of times around your neck for plenty of warmth.

[Photo via Just Crafty Enough.]

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Check out these books dedicated to Knitted Cowl Patterns still looking for more cowl patterns? Check these out on Etsy.

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Every knitter has a stash. Some of us have a neat little basket. Some of us have a “please don’t open that cupboard too quickly” situation. So a book called Knitting Stylish Stuff from Your Stash already feels like it understands the assignment.

Written by Erica Berntsen, this book is all about turning leftover yarn, odd skeins, and those slightly mysterious yarn purchases we were definitely going to use “one day” into stylish, wearable projects. The book includes 20 scrappy knitting designs and focuses on making the most of what you already have, with a practical zero-waste approach. It’s published by Landauer Publishing and runs to 168 pages.

What I like about this book is that it doesn’t treat leftover yarn as second-best. Instead, it leans into the charm of mixed colours, textures, scraps, and creative combinations. That’s where stash knitting becomes fun rather than just economical. You’re not simply “using things up”; you’re making something with personality.

The projects are aimed at knitters who want fashionable, useful pieces rather than another pile of tiny odds-and-ends projects that never leave the craft room. It’s a good fit if you enjoy relaxed, creative knitting and don’t mind experimenting a little with colour and yarn pairing.

This would suit knitters who:

have too much leftover yarn and want realistic project ideas
enjoy scrappy, colourful knitting
like sustainable craft projects
want stylish stash-busting patterns
prefer practical makes over fussy novelty projects

I’d say this is especially appealing for knitters who already have a little confidence and enjoy making creative decisions as they go. If you are the sort of person who likes everything to match perfectly, scrappy knitting might make you twitch slightly. But if you love a good “let’s see what happens” project, this book will probably be right up your alley.

For anyone working through this book, it’s worth sorting your yarn stash first by weight, fibre, and colour family. A digital kitchen scale is surprisingly handy for checking how much yarn you actually have left, and a few clear storage tubs or yarn bags make the whole process much less chaotic. The book itself is a natural Amazon book recommendation, and Mary Maxim is a useful place to look if you need extra yarn to pull a stash project together.

Knitting Stylish Stuff from Your Stash is a clever, practical, and refreshingly useful book for knitters who want to stop saving yarn scraps for “someday” and actually turn them into something wearable. It’s creative without being wasteful, stylish without being intimidating, and a lovely reminder that your stash probably already has more potential than you think.

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