8/20/2009

Chunky Rib Stitch Cowl




Since I can feel that summer is fast coming to a close, I decided to make myself something to keep warm on the drafty buses out in SF. I have been knitting this cowl for a month or so, mostly exclusively at the meetup group, and it came together really fast and easy (that's about 4 days in total). The yarn (Paton's Rumors) did not go as far as I thought it would and I only had one ball in my stash. I went to a bunch of craft stores to try to find it again and I was disturbed by the lack of variety at Michael's. They used to have so much yarn, now the stores are being overrun with scrapbooking supplies and all they have is boring old Red Heart worsted, some Lion that gets about as interesting as the Homespun stuff, and a little Paton's. Booooring. So I had to go online to find another ball and of course the dye lots didn't match. Oh well, it looks like they don't make that yarn anymore, but since it is for me and not to sell I don't mind the color change. So if anyone else out there would like to make a quick and easy cowl (they would be great gifts for the hipsters in your life), then here is the extremely simple pattern:

Materials:
Size US 10 knitting needles
2 balls of your favorite bulky-weight yarn
Scissors
Small crochet hook
Yarn needle

1. Cast on 100 stitches.
2. For this row and every row onward until you run out of yarn, *knit 2, purl 2* until end of row. This makes the nice deep double rib stitch, which is very stretchy.
3. When you are out of yarn, bind off. Be sure to leave a long tail, and sew the short sides of the rectangle together. That's it!

I told you it was really simple, lol!


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9 comments:

  1. Love your cowl! The colors are great! I wish I know how to knit...

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  2. Now you're making me wish winter would hurry up and get here! This looks so warm and cozy... Just lovely.

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  3. love the colors!

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  4. Anonymous7:59 AM

    I love this, it's simple, it looks great! Thanks for sharing. Just what I was looking to make.

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  5. Anonymous3:10 PM

    making this now. thanks for the inspiration!

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  6. Anonymous2:03 PM

    hey your blog design is very nice, neat and fresh and with updated content, make people feel peace and I always enjoy browsing your site.

    - Norman

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  7. Thanks for sharing this simple but elegant pattern! I am working on it right now and love how it is shaping up.

    One question: What did the dimensions end up being? I'm almost through my first ball of yarn and it's looking pretty close to finished; still, I'm curious about yours.

    Secondly, I thought readers might be interested to know that you can definitely do this on circular needles. I am knitting it on 26" size 10s to avoid having to do as much finishing. It's looking good!

    Thanks again!

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  8. Thanks for sharing this lovely pattern!

    I'm working on it and wondering what the dimensions ended up being. I'm working on it and it's already looking close to finished after my first ball of yarn.

    Also, readers might be interested to know that you can knit this on 24 inch size 10 needles. I'm doing this to cut down on the amount of finishing and it's shaping up nicely.

    Thanks again!

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  9. I think the difference in shading caused by odd dye lots looks really good. Quite subtil, as though it was intended. Thank you for sharing. Liz in Brittany ( France)

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