We’ve had quite a swing of temperature over the past couple of weeks. Constant school delays and cancellations due to subzero temps, then the next week strolling around in short sleeves is always a shock to the system. This is the time of year I keep a pile of cowls and shawls by the door in all different weights. I never know what I’m going to need for the walk to school until the morning air hits me when we first open the door.
As we’re beginning to make that transition into spring (the tulips have started peeping out), it reminds me that we’re entering the perfect season for lace! Whenever I teach lace I find myself face-to-face with at least a few students who are terrified of this technique. They think they’re not good enough knitters (they are), they think they’ll screw it up (it’s just sticks and string), and they think that it’s a technique reserved only for experts (it most certainly is not). Sure, you can take lace to an extreme and knit super fancy crazy hardcore patterns, but sometimes lace is as simple as an eyelet motif. I always tell my students that lace is simply a series of holes on purpose, with increases and decreases placed to make it aesthetically pleasing. I stayed away from lace for years, never thinking I was good enough to get it right and once I tried it, I was hooked.
Introducing the Deviating Cowl, a simple lace infinity cowl broken up into sections of zigzag lace, easy mesh, garter ridges, and stockinette stitch knit the long way in the round. Knitting up on US 3s and 5s with Dragonfly Fibers’ Damsel, a sport weight 100% superwash merino that has lovely drape, this is a great travel project. The lace is exciting enough that it keep you interested, yet simple enough to predict and pick up and put down without having a difficult time finding your place in the pattern. With each hank coming in at 335 yards, this cowl only needs 1 hank of each color. Add more reps and more colors if you can’t settle on just 2!
The kind folks at Dragonfly are giving away 1 hank of Flannel Pajamas and 1 hank of Silver Fox in Damsel to make your very own Deviating Cowl! I’ll provide the pattern and one lucky winner will get both to make their very own cowl. Answer the below trivia question correctly the comments for a chance to win. Open to US residents only. Winner will be chosen at random on Thursday, February 14th.
What is Luna Lovegood’s father’s first name?
Can’t wait to knit it? Download the Deviating Cowl here.