Take a Chance on Knitting the Dice Cowl

What happens when you mix a bunch of different colors with a few different stitch textures on the same knit cowl? Something like the Dice Cowl from Audrey Borrego.

This sock yarn stash buster is perfect for using up the leftover bits from other projects, or finally using that advent calendar yarn or set of mini skeins you’ve had in your stash forever.

The pattern includes two sizes for a cowl that’s worked in the round, and it includes five stitch patterns: stockinette, garter stitch, bobbles, feather and fan and eyelet stripes. There’s no real pattern to it other than explaining the set up and how to do the stitch patterns (which are given in words as well as charts).

It’s suggested you could make this a year long (or six month long, for the smaller version) daily practice by working a round a day, or you can knit it more quickly, which I’m sure you’ll want to once you start playing with colors.

There are no rules for how often you switch among the patterns, or indeed if you even do, but I like the idea of making it into a game, which you could do lots of different ways.

You could, for example, decide you want to change patterns every time you change colors, or every inch, or based on the Fibonacci sequence or the numbers in a special date or the code for a person’s name.

You can go through the patterns in order or literally roll the dice to figure out which pattern to use next. (Yes, dice have six sides and there are only five options. Pick another stitch pattern to add or make 6 mean continue in the pattern you’ve been working. Reverse stockinette stitch might be fun.)

This project is available as a free pattern on Ravelry. While you’re there, check out the pattern gallery to see the different ways others have interpreted this design.

[Photo: Audrey Borrego]

This is a project that kind of stopped me in my tracks when I saw it while scrolling Ravelry. It’s such a fun contrast of a semisolid color worked in stockinette stitch and a more tonal yarn worked in a feather and fan variation.

(See more about feather and fan in this post on my blog; I also have a feather and fan scarf if you want to practice.)

The Nitty Wrap from Renate Dziedataja is worked in fingering weight yarn from a Finnish mill, and the name is the Finnish word for meadow. You of course can use whatever yarn you have handy.

It’s even more interesting because the project is worked from one short end across to make a long rectangle, and the two different sections are joined using intarsia. Generally we think of intarsia as being used for colorwork, so this is a fun different use of it. The lace section is charted in the pattern but it’s pretty easy to follow.

And of course it’s totally optional but to add a little more interest and tie the two colors of yarn together the designer also added some embroidery along the short edges on the stockinette side. A drawing of what she did is included but you can also add different designs if you’d rather.

The shawl has I-cord edgings to give it a nice finished look that doesn’t take away from the organic simplicity of the design.

As shown, the shawl measures about 22.5 inches/57 cm wide and 59 inches/150 cm long. You can of course adjust this according to your preference, the amount of yarn you have and the gauge you are getting. Try a thicker yarn to make a wider shawl if you like.

This pattern is available in English and Latvian for free on Ravelry.

Photo: Renate Dziedataja

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