The Imperial Cowl

The Imperial Cowl £6

The Imperial Cowl is a super one-skein textured cowl pattern in two sizes that you can knit in either DK or Aran weight yarn and either make it flat or knit it in the round.

You can also further customise the sizing by changing the number of stitches you cast on to alter the circumference or by changing the number of pattern repeats you work to alter the height.

There are even clickable video links for all the abbreviations and stitches that might be less familiar to walk you through it. And once you’ve completed one pattern repeat, the stitch pattern is easy to memorise.

Yarn Weight: DK, Aran

Yarn

100g of any DK or Aran weight yarn. Please note that if you are using Aran weight yarn with 166m per 100g you will need to make the smaller size.

Samples shown:

Green (small in DK yarn, knitted flat)
John Arbon, Knit By Numbers DK, (100% Pure Falklands Merino Wool, 250m per 100g), KBN73, 1 skein

Blue (large in DK yarn, knitted in the round)
Fruitful Fusion, DK Merino, (100% Merino, 225m per 100g), Ocean, 1 skein

Pink (large in worsted/light Aran yarn, knitted in the round)
Juniper Moon Farm, Herriot, (100% Superfine Baby Alpaca, 200m per 100g), Rosewood, 1 skein

Mustard (small in Aran yarn, knitted flat)
West Yorkshire Spinners, ColourLab Aran (96% British Wool, 4% Nylon, 166m per 100g), Golden Mustard Tweed, 1 ball

Needles

DK: 4mm, straight needles 30cm long (working flat only) or 40-60cm circular, or size to obtain desired tension.

Aran: 5mm, straight needles 30cm long (working flat only) or 40-60cm circular, or size to obtain desired tension.

Notions

1 stitch marker if working in the round

Tension

DK: 10cm = 18 sts x 40 rows/rnds over Stitch Patt, on 4mm needles after washing and drying flat

Aran: 10cm = 15.5 sts x 32 rows/rnds over Stitch Patt, on 5mm needles after washing and drying flat

Sizing (height x circumference) 

DK Small: 16 x 55 cm

DK Large: 16 x 72.5 cm

Aran Small: 20 x 57cm

Aran Large: 20 x 73 cm

Notes

  1. The pattern is created with tuck stitches which are easy to knit, although they may use unfamiliar terms. All tuck stitch terms (sl1yo/ sl11yo/ sl12yo/ sl13yo) are explained in the abbreviations. There is also a section with links to short videos showing how the stitches are worked, whether you are working the cowl flat or in the round.
  2. Many thanks to Nancy Marchant for her system of using superscript numbers to show how many yarn-over strands are being slipped along with the slipped stitch.
  3. You can adapt the pattern to any yarn weight or tension by swatching!
  4. The stitch pattern is a multiple of 4 sts, plus 2 sts for a seam allowance if working the cowl flat. The circumference of the cowl is adjustable by casting on more or fewer stitches in multiples of 4 (eg cast on 110 sts instead of 102 sts).
  5. The height of the cowl is adjustable by adding or removing repeats of Rows 1-8 of the Stitch Pattern.
  6. If you are using Aran weight yarn with 166m per 100g you will need to make the smaller size.
  7. Tension is not critical as long as you are pleased with the fabric created, although this will affect the quantity of yarn used.