Yarn | Zoë Halstead

Hello again!

Because the weather has been unseasonably warm of late I was worried that I’d left it a little late to share this pattern with you. But having spent a very chilly evening yesterday by the side of a football pitch, I was very glad of this warm and snuggly cowl!

Earlier on this year I had a real urge to make (knit or crochet) something just for me. I very rarely have time to make anything for myself as usually all my knitting and crocheting time is spent working on projects and commissions for other people.

I found this yarn in a local sell everything really cheaply shop (B & M Bargains) and as you can see it was a bargain at only £2.99 a ball. (The top photo above doesn’t really do the colour justice, I was itching to get started and took this with my phone the evening of the day I bought it!) I was attracted to the soft green and grey mix, the roving type quality of the yarn and the subtle silver-coloured metallic thread running through it.

I decided I wanted to make a scarf or cowl and all out of this one 100g ball. There is a scarf pattern printed on the inside of the ball band but I wasn’t particularly inspired by it and so searched through Ravelry and Pinterest for some inspiration.

I finally settled on a crochet cowl in a fairly open stitch pattern so that it wouldn’t be too bulky and warm air could get trapped in the holes. Believe me it works!

As you can see from the ball band, this is classed as a Super Bulky weight yarn and the recommended knitting needle size is 8mm. If you want to substitute a different yarn try and match the tension and meterage (10 stitches, 13 rows and 166 metres) rather than just using 100g ball of any Super Bulky/Chunky yarn. You can of course use a completely different weight yarn adjusting your hook size accordingly to match and increasing the number of foundation chains so that it hangs down to about the same length as the picture below.

Easy Sparkle Crochet Cowl

UK crochet terms

Measurements

148cm around approximately

14cm wide approximately

Abbreviations

ch – chain; htr – half treble; ss – slip stitch; sp – space; rep – repeat

Materials

1 x 100g ball of B & M Bargains Sparkle Super Bulky

7.00mm hook

Tension

6 half treble and 6 holes and 9 rows measure 10cm square over stitch pattern using 7.00mm hook

Instructions

Foundation Chain: With 7.00mm hook, ch160 and join with a ss in first ch to make a round being careful not to twist the foundation chain.

Round 1: Ch3 (counts as 1htr, ch1), miss 1 ch, (1htr in next ch, ch1, miss 1 ch) to end, ss in top of ch3 sp.

Round 2: Ch3 (counts as 1htr, ch1), miss htr, (1htr in ch1 sp, ch1, miss htr) to end, ss in top of ch3 sp.

Rep last round 10 times more (or until yarn runs out).

Fasten off.

Sew in ends.

The cowl wraps around comfortably twice and may wrap around three times, I just haven’t tried it!

I’d love to see your cowls, please post to my Facebook page and/or Ravelry (there’ll be a link on there to this post hopefully, once I get it sorted).

Happy crocheting and happy Friday, it’s nearly the weekend!

Zoë x

Hello again.

Hey, look at me managing to write the monthly round-up for March when we are only 3 days into April!

In March I have been…………

Designing, Writing Patterns and Knitting lots of new things I can’t tell you about just yet – I will in time, I promise. The picture above is the part of knit design that always scrambles my brain – ugh maths!

Crocheting more Granny squares for a blanket I’m planning. More about this in a future post.

Sorting through my yarn stash that was in the loft. I had forgotten about a lot of what was in these boxes!

Getting excited about Yarn Shop Day in a months time – 3rd May – and my involvement in it. (More about this in a future post.)

Eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. I bought these pancakes (we also made some) because they were cheap and also because I liked the packaging. Unbeknownst to me, on the inside, there was a knitting reference. And a cat. ♥