Doodle Cowls

In my 12+ years of knitting, there are two things I’ve never really taken to: cowls and colourwork. Then I stumbled upon the doodle patterns from Pacific Knit Co. and was totally swayed. I went down a big rabbit hole and ended up making two, each one taking less than a week (not too shabby for someone who doesn’t like colourwork).

I used a superwash wool for my first version, which yielded a relaxed fabric that blocked nicely. Drops Karisma is an affordable yarn with lots of colour options. As you can see from the photo above, I bought six with the thought that I was going to create a lovely palette. That idea quickly faded when I started incorporating them. It started to look scrappy, and wasn’t the vision I had for this project. I decided to go with three instead.

The charts for this pattern are available in The Valentines Doodle 1 Cowl by Pacific Knit Co.

When using a bunch of colours, I think there needs to be continuity throughout the piece. Of course I could change my tune in the future. For my second version, I used one colour for the background.

I made this next version as a gift for my mom. Since she has a wool allergy, I used some leftover Loops & Threads Creme Cotton from my stash. I wouldn’t usually use cotton for colourwork, and probably never will again, but I’m still happy with the finished piece.

My mom loves all things nautical, especially lighthouses. I added a lobster as a nod to a family joke, but it actually turned out to be my favourite motif. I like how it doesn’t jump out from the navy background in the same way as the pink shell or blue waves. You might not even see it unless you’re up close.

This version really flew off my needles – I had it done in 5 days. I’ll probably give it to my mom a bit early so she can get some use out of it before the weather warms up. I don’t love how the defined stitches of cotton yarn look with colourwork, particularly the lighthouse. I’m a tight knitter and struggled with my tension a bit. Usually this blocks out, but cotton yarn is a little too stable. It also ended up a good inch smaller than my first version, both in length and diameter.

The charts for this pattern are available in The Ocean Doodle Cowl by Pacific Knit Co.

I learned some techniques through these patterns that I’ll use in more colourwork projects. I knit in the English style (or “throwing”), so knitting with one hand in continental style was new for me. The patterns contain helpful videos for carrying floats which was a total gamechanger. It made colourwork enjoyable rather than a tangled mess. I’ll definitely knit another one of these next winter! 

Happy making, 

Jackie

A little disclaimer: This blog is very small, so it almost goes without saying, but I am not affiliated with any brands mentioned in this post.