I’ve got a new pattern to share with you today—please welcome the Cluaran Cowl!
If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I’m pretty stoked about this pattern, to the point of annoyance—if anyone’s tired of hearing about this one, my apologies. Every pattern is my favorite when I’m working on it. But this one might really, really be my favorite.
For one thing, the stitch pattern: I’m so, so happy with how it came out! I fell down the brioche rabbit hole last year and had a blast experimenting with brioche increases; I tried pushing them as large and dramatic as possible, and spreading the decreases in unusual ways, and this organic thistle pattern is the result. (Someone who’s actually Scottish told me that it looked like thistles, so thank you to Joanne for reassuring me!) Now my wheels are totally turning about what brioche innovations I can try out next…
Then, it’s a stashbuster. Y’all know I love stashbusters…this sample basically used no yarn. I started with 2 skeins of sock yarn (440 yd each) and used less than half of each skein.
But wait, there’s more! It’s also adjustable! Only one of my four test knitters made the cowl exactly per the pattern. It’s easy to tweak both the circumference and the height to your liking; instructions on how to do that are included in the pattern.
And even though this is technically not part of my design, can we talk about the yarn for a second? Malabrigo chose this design as part of their Quickies program, a monthly indie pattern series that features small, quick designs using Malabrigo yarn. I used their Turner and Persia colorways on their Sock base for this cowl; and I couldn’t love it more. The yarn itself is soft and sleek with a bit of sheen that makes the colors really glow; and you can’t get much better than Malabrigo’s rich, shaded tonals.
Now, the details: this pattern is available via Ravelry and Payhip as of today, and will eventually go up on LoveCrafts as well. Purchase it before Saturday, October 23 and you can get 10% off with the coupon code THISTLE10. (If you’re signed up to my email newsletter, check your inbox for the subscriber special that went out this morning.)
And…we’re having a knitalong! It’s going to be a laidback, informal event without any requirements (except knitting a Cluaran Cowl and having fun!); to join, head to the dedicated thread in my Ravelry group and/or post photos of your yarn, WIPs, and FOs on Instagram using the hashtag #cluarancowlkal. I can’t wait to see all your lovely projects!
