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.]

It feels like it’s too early to be thinking about back to school, but as I write this my daughter has just a couple of weeks of summer left! So let’s get in that school and fall knitting spirit by looking at some apple knitting projects.

If you have a 22 needle circular knitting machine, knitting an apple is one of the easiest things you can do. I have an apple pattern over at Our Daily Craft that will take you just a few minutes to knit and they’re a great addition to your fall decor.

Apple hats are a classic, and whether you want to knit a hat that looks like an apple or one with apples on it, we’ve got you covered. For hats that look like apples check out the rolled brim version from Emma Crochet Design 4 U, which uses worsted weight yarn and comes in sizes for kids of all ages; and the ribbed brim version from Hand Knit Hugs. This one also calls for worsted weight yarn and comes in four kids sizes. Both include a stem and leaf.

If you’d rather have apples on your hat, try the Red Apple Hat from Little Red Window. This one is sized from newborn to 2T and calls for four colors of worsted weight yarn.

How about apple socks? You’ll find Ariel Chang’s Apple Picnic Socks as a free download on Ravelry. These use three colors of sock yarn and come in three sizes. Stone Knits also a pair of stripey apple socks that show the inside of the apple. These also have three sizes but they use six colors total, with the main color being a self-striping yarn.

If you want a little apple accessory for the house, the apple potholder from Nifty Knitter Designs is cute and a great way to practice double knitting. It uses two colors and you’ll find the colors in the reverse on the other side. The pattern only uses about 50 yards of each color of worsted weight yarn, so it’s a great use for odd balls, too.

Once you’ve got your double knitting skills sorted you can also try the double knit apple scarf from Crow and Chai Shop. The Winter Apples scarf is shown in red and gold, but you can use whatever colors you like. There are apples, stars and random stitches in the design, which calls for DK weight yarn. There’s also a matching fingerless glove pattern.

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