soopa cowl

Winter break gave me an opportunity to knit my little heart out. One of my favorite projects was this chunky cowl. After I saw the article in the New York Times about Yoozo Gibran, an Atlanta-based artist, I fell in love with her cowls (the chains, in my opinion, are a little odd), but not with their price tag or the backorders. She’s a one-person studio and workshop, and, according to her etsy page, demand has spiked.

Internet research led me to some comparable cowls, including this one from Lion's Brand:

At the end of the day, I decided to come up with my own pattern. So that was the first step. Next, pick out yarn. Lamb’s Pride Bulky is soft, which is crucial for a garment worn close to skin. It’s a dream to knit with. Choosing a color was difficult as there isn’t a clunker in the bunch.

For this project, I chose rust, which doesn’t have nearly as much brown in it as the name implies. Using

size 15 needles and double-stranded yarn, I cast on 24 stitches, then knit in stockinette. On every tenth row, I threw in a garter stitch, which created a raised stripe in the pattern. When the yarn was gone, I bound off and sewed the two ends together. Really. That easy.

Voila, a cowl is born. And, I can’t wait to knit another one. It’s soopa warm, fashion forward, and an orange that is complemented by my current hair color.