Since 2009 when I started writing Hugs For Your Head, I've shared a free pattern in mid February as a thank you to you for spending some your time here. Today I'd like to share instructions for a cowl, because I love them so much, and they fit almost everybody.
'Togetherness' features a very stable stitch that won't curl over in use, on a very soft DK-weight yarn - Duchess from Twisted Fiber Art - that is unlikely to be deemed itchy by anyone.
Like most of my patterns, this one has a story. And since I designed it originally for Wayson who feels the stories are the best part of what I make, I'll share it with you. If you end up knitting one in the circumstances I did, perhaps knowing will make it even more special.
Everything Starts With Guilt
Last fall I took a writing course with the excellent Humber School for Writers, and found myself knitting thank-yous for two of the faculty. Then I felt guilty, because Wayson was my first teacher there and I haven't knit him anything new for him in ages.
The days I had set aside for designing and knitting this cowl for him coincided with the death of another extended family member, and in the end I did the prep work in the car on the way to and from his funeral. As sometimes happens when you are doing creative work at an emotional time, I found that the insights I gained from the experience worked their way into the finished product.
Targets vs Webs
When I started to lose loved ones from the older generations of my family I developed the idea that an aerial view of our lives is similar - thankfully, only visually - to a target. We begin our lives in the center of that target, protected by outer rings of older siblings and cousins and neighbours, and by parents and aunts and uncles and friends of their generation, and further still by grandparents and great-aunts and uncles and so on. But as we get older, we find ourselves on wider rings as the protectors of younger people, and watching our progress to our own posts on the outermost ring.
At Jerry's funeral, I discovered something quite different. As I moved around the reception room, chatting with older aunts and uncles and friends, and introducing younger people to other young people they did not yet know, it occurred to me that we are in fact in a web. I am not in isolation in my generational ring at all - I have bonds with many in other generations and in fact reach out in both directions to hold them securely within our community. I'm 90% certain that the young people I introduced will see each other again at many more funerals (for some reason, we don't gather as extensively for weddings) as we lose people from other parts of the web, and they will begin to reach out to each other too.
Admittedly this image still involves people leaving us, but it feels truer, and more secure as well.
Stitches and Ideas
Back in the car for the long drive home, I looked at the design I'd developed and saw that the knits and purls I was using to create a textured, stable fabric actually echoed the social structure of Jerry's mourners.
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| Pete thinks this looks like a William Morris print. Love the idea, wish I could see it. |
Each specific stitch is guarded by contrasting ones, up and down and across, and those guard stitches themselves are protected. A series of solid lines, like spines, reach up through the whole giving stability and structures to them all. It's a lot like a web.
Timely Knitting
It didn't take long to finish the cowl once I'd settled on the details, and soon after I let Wayson know I was putting it in the mail. It was then I found out that he had just suffered a loss himself, and that a handknit cowl from a friend couldn't come at a better time.
(and that was before we found out what a cold winter we were going to have!)
So: on the one hand, Happy Valentine's Day with a nice warm simple cowl you can keep or give away.
And on the other, Happy Valentine's Day and thank you for being in my community web.
Difficulty Level
Easy. This cowl is knit in the round on either a 16" circular needle or a set of double-points. If you can knit and purl and cast on and cast off (or have a friend who will do it for you), you're good to go.
Materials
Semisolid shade of Twisted Fiber Art Duchess (100%
superwash merino wool,
240 yds/100g) 1 skein, shown in Suede, a coordinate for Dapper self-striping yarn
US 6/4.0 mm 16” circular needle
240 yds/100g) 1 skein, shown in Suede, a coordinate for Dapper self-striping yarn
US 6/4.0 mm 16” circular needle
stitch marker
darning needle
darning needle
Gauge
20 sts, 28
rows = 4” in stocking stitch
Finished Dimensions
Finished Dimensions
19” circumference, 6” long
