New Pattern: Bay Road Cowl

Knitters of cowls, lovers of cables and lace: I’ve got a new design that’s just for you!

The Bay Road Cowl has just been released on Ravelry, where it’s on sale for 20% off. Use the coupon code COWL20 to get the discount.

Named after a winding road with views of apple orchards in my hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts, the Bay Road Cowl features gently curving cables and pretty wrapped cluster lace stitches, all framed by crisp seed stitch.

The cowl is knit flat, end to end, in fingering weight yarn, beginning with a provisional crochet cast-on. Finishing is simple: after the piece is blocked, the two ends are joined with a three-needle bind-off. The pattern includes instructions for both the cast-on and bind-off, in case either of those techniques are new to you.

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With a circumference of 51.5 inches/131 cm, the Bay Road Cowl can be worn either in a single loop or — on those coldest days — doubled up for extra warmth. In yesterday’s freezing temperatures, it kept my neck toasty warm all day.

For this design, I used a special skein of yarn that I purchased from White Barn Farm Sheep and Wool at Rhinebeck last fall. I fell in love with both the lovely color and the soft Cormo wool. This is a new, 2-ply fingering weight version of their DK NEST yarn. It’s not in the Ravelry database yet; according to the label there are 365yd/334m in the 100g skein. The cowl used nearly all of the skein.

The 20% off sale ends this Sunday, February 3. Happy knitting — and if you’re dealing with record-breaking cold, I hope you are warm and safe!