Projects
Windowpane Cowl: 3 Thoughts
Dear Kay,
I just finished Amy Christoffers’s Windowpane Cowl, and I’m so happy. Writing today to pass along a few thoughts and whatnot about this design.
Thought No. 1: Why You Should Make This Pattern. It’s a perfect place to try out mosaic knitting. I was rusty on the basics, so Amy’s simple design let me ease back into the rhythm of slip-stitch, mosaic technique. I got the hang of it fast. So good for travel knitting, or a waiting-for-five-minutes project.
Thought No. 2: Yarn Choice. Amy’s expertise in yarns (she was creative director at Berroco for eight years) means that she set this design up with a lush combination of wool and mohair-silk laceweight held double. The resulting fabric is soft and lush, exactly what a person wants a cowl to be.
Two rows in wool, two rows in mohair-silk. The little blips are soft blurs.
For mine, I set a bunch of constraints: I had to use yarn that was inside my house, no full skeins, and it had to follow the basic specs of the pattern. None of this hey-I-made-it-in-superbulky-linen business. It had to be wool, and it had to be mohair/silk blend fingering weight.
In other words, I busted my stash.
This is our Jane yarn, in the colors Peony, Cameo, Yorkshire, Persimmon, and Marigold. The mohair/silk is Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Rose held with Burnt Orange, plus Peacock held with Turquoise.
I like the way the back side of the mosaic looks as much as I like the front side.
Thought No. 3: The Beauty of Constraints. I knitted each color of Jane until it ran out, which made each section a unique number of rows. I don’t think I would have chosen this quartet of Jane colors had I been standing in our warehouse with every color available to me—but I think this is a combination that hangs together. Bonus: I didn’t eat up our inventory!
And it was a nice color experiment to see what effect the Kidsilk Haze had on the Jane, as I swapped colors in and out. Spoiler alert: it affects it a lot!
The three-needle bind-off closed the circle in a tidy way, and it left me wanting more mosaic. Which I guess is what Amy was scheming when she designed this cowl. She’s clever that way.
I’m already well into Amy’s second accessory in Field Guide No. 29: Mosaic, the Floating Squares Wrap. Please stay tuned—this has become another deep dive into a very beautiful kind of knitting.
Curious about your stash-busting strategy for the Windowpane Cowl. What do you have on hand that would work for this?
Love,
Ann
Ann, your cowl is glorious. I hope you get a cool day in Nashville to wear it out and about. I recently purchased several skeins of Jane to play with for the Waffle Pullover. You have inspired me to search my collection for Kid Silk Haze or other mohair. I know I have some small skeins of mohair purchased on sale at my LYS.
What a FANTASTIC cowl and it does more than “hang together!!!” I just happen to need a travel project for this weekend, with lots of odds and ends and silk mohair hanging out waiting for a cool thing to come along. This is it. THANKS so much!
This turned out beautifully! You have inspired me to try mosaic again. And I love stash busting projects.
I love mixing mohair/silk blends w/itself and with other yarns, makes such luxurious fabric! I have a little leftover Kidsilk Haze, but just finished a vest where I held Woolfolk’s Tynd and ITO Sensai, another mohair/silk blend, together. It’s a test to see if the Sensai will help strengthen and make the very soft merino Tynd that disappointingly pills terribly, behave better. So I have enough left to try a slip-stitch cowl. Love the look of yours!
Silk-mohair as a strengthening strategy for soft (and therefore pill-prone) yarns is genius!
Jane is not pill-prone but I saw Ann’s cowl as she was working on it and the fabric is so plush. Resistance is futile, I came home with some odd single balls of Kidsilk Haze to make this cowl….
I love your three thoughts and the cowl is beautiful.
Gorgeous cowl with all those colors. It just makes you happy to look at it. Thanks for the idea. I have plenty of sport weight wool and silk/mohair in my stash and intend to try this out.
Off the wall question, Ann. Is the background fabric your tea towel from the indigo workshop?
I love your color choices for the cowl. Looks like I’ll have to bust my stash of mohair and silk, but need to finish the Belinda Wrap first!
Hi Nancy,
I do believe those are indigo-dyed napkins that Ann got from the wonderful Indigo Squirrel at Nash Yarn Fest.
https://www.theindigosquirrel.com/shop
It’s beautiful!
Very beautiful. Love the color interaction.
Do so wish I was not so allergic to mohair. It is a magic fiber.
ANN, Your knitting is beautiful and you are a beautiful model!! Thank you for all of your great knitting guidance. Where would we be without you and Kay?