Seven New Free Cowl Patterns to Warm Up Your Needles

I’m kind of obsessed with checking out the new projects on Ravelry. It’s how I find a lot of the patterns I shared with you, and this afternoon while I was checking it out there were no fewer than seven new cowl knitting patterns that had been posted in the past few days.

I have a feeling that means fall is coming and that we’re all looking forward to having the need to warm our necks!

Because there are so many, I’ll be brief, but hopefully give you enough intel so you’ll know which ones you want to check out.

Two of them — the Manly Mossy Cowl from Wool & Flax and the Ninja Turtle Infinity Scarf from a knitter of Craftster who goes by the nickname Bananaleg — use what I would call seed stitch worked flat and in the round, respectively. (Seed stitch is called moss stitch in other parts of the world; confusing, right?) I’ve been craving a seed stitch (or moss stitch) cowl so either of these would be great for me right now. Oh, wait, here’s another seed stitch one, from This Girl Loves to Craft, which she worked from the short side and called the Buenos Aires Cowl.

Danish designer Nanna Gudmand-Høyer has a lovely colorwork pattern called Galianthus, which I will admit I could not get to translate on my computer but I didn’t try very hard.

The Almost Fur Cowl from ABC Knitting Patterns is a top-down, circular knit, shaped cowl (bordering on poncho, but shorter) that combines a furry novelty yarn with a self-striping yarn for a bold but easy project.

The knitter with the awesomely named blog One Geek to Craft Them All finished a project for the Ravellenic Games: a self-designed cabled cowl made from homespun called Girl on Fire. It’s absolutely beautiful (it’s the one pictured) and would be great knit from a heavy worsted non-homespun if you don’t happen to be a spinner.

Finally there’s Haldjas, a lovely lacy cowl from Estonian knitwear designers Kärt Urman. This one is a PDF (scroll down to the bottom of that page and click the link) and it’s in English, though of course you could work it out from the chart, too. Haldjas, she tells us, means fairy in Estonian, and this lacy mohair wrapper certainly is ethereal!

[Photo by One Geek to Craft Them All.]

Adding a bit of knitting to your fall decor is a lot of fun, whether it’s knit pumpkins or a bunch of adorable knit ghosts like these.

Knit ghosts can be super simple like this free ghost knitting pattern from Trixie Zynch on Ravelry. Using about 50 yards of worsted weight yarn, they’re worked from the bottom up and are super cute as a pair.

This fuzzy little ghost from Forest Knitting Toys is holding a pumpkin and wearing a witch hat, though of course the accessories are optional, as is the fuzzy yarn. The main yarn is chunky and the ghost measures about 10 cm/4 inches tall. It’s worked in the round.

Another fuzzy ghost in more of a Pacman style is this ghost plushie form South Stitch Girls. It’s worked in the round with bulky yarn and includes a sweet little bow you can make in whatever color you like.

The ghost doll from Edith Grace Designs has little arms and a curl at the top of its head. The body is worked flat using DK weight yarn and you could also work it in glow in the dark yarn for extra fun. The body and head are worked in one piece with the arms knit separately.

The Grim Grinning Ghosts from Susan Claudino are super cute and you can knit them in any yarn and gauge you like to make ghosts of different sizes. These are worked in the round with the body done in one piece and the arms are knit separately. The ghosts shown were knit in sock yarn, DK and worsted weight yarn. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

Make a ghost with funny striped legs with this ghost shelf sitter design from Claire Fairall Designs. It’s worked in three colors of DK weight yarn, and the letters spelling out boo are made with strips of garter stitch sewn into shape.

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