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.]

As we get into the part of the year with a lot of food-forward holidays, it might be time to start thinking about knitting some new things for your table. While a few of these are more fall/Thanksgiving focused, just changing up the colors would make others work for Christmas, or keep it neutral and use them all year long.

What got me started thinking about this was the lovely and simple Fresh Bread Dishtowel, a free pattern from Purl Soho. Worked in a lovely cotton and linen blend, the towel is mostly stockinette stitch with a bit of texture on the borders.

You could use this same kind of pattern to make anything from placemats to a table runner, but let’s look at some specific patterns for those kinds of projects as well.

The easy moss stitch table runner from Glass Bird Knits is beginner friendly can can easily be modified to fit your table (or, again, to make placemats instead of or in addition to a runner). This version is worked in macrame cord, but you could also use bulky yarn.

Emielle Design has a garter stitch runner pattern that’s made with braided cotton cord for a lot of texture without a lot of work. But be sure to take a lot of breaks when knitting with cord because it can be rough on your hands!

I also love the diamond pattern on the Hamilton Table Runner from Wyndlestraw Designs. It calls for a DK weight cotton and linen blend yarn and comes in three sizes with different widths and lengths. The pattern has both written and charted instructions.

Amy Marie’s Table Pumpkins (on Ravelry) is a fun mosaic knitting pattern that would be great to use as a table runner through the fall and for Thanksgiving. It uses a worsted weight cotton yarn in two colors, and you can make it as long as you like for your table.

The no cable knit placemats from Yarn Culture Studio have a fun faux cable look that would be great for the table through the fall and winter.

Or here’s another pattern from Wyndlestraw Designs, this time for an easy knit and purl stitch placemat pattern that looks different but still good on both sides. It calls for worsted weight cotton and comes in two sizes for placemats, but also has instructions for coasters, a hot pad and a table pad all using the same stitch.

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