Free Pattern Friday: One Skein Chunky Cowl

The cowl craze is huge in the knitting world these days. I've been looking at them for a while on Flickr and on Ravelry, but have never knit one.

That all changed last week. My sister called me and told me she had decided to knit a gift for a coworker who had recently lost her second sister to breast cancer. I just can't imagine. My heart breaks for her.

Anyway, this call was a big deal to me as my sister is not a knitter. I'm so excited she is knitting although she swears it's a one time thing. We will see. Anyway, she was trying to decide what to knit and we decided a cowl might be a good option. So my sister went to her local Jo-Anns and found some yarn she liked--Landscapes by Lion in Country Sunset. It came with a cowl-esque pattern. Anyway, I decided to look around on Ravelry to see if there were any good chunky cowls and I only found one. This cute Freebie. Anyway, I had an extra skein of Sirdar big softie leftover from Christie's wrap so I decided to make a cowl with it. I basically made a chunky version of the Gloria cowl. This is a quickie. I was talking, watching TV and knitting and it took a little under 2 hours to knit this cowl.


Here are the details and free pattern:
One Skein Chunky Cowl
Yarn: Sirdar big softie (Super Chunky/50g/45m/49yds/51% Wool/49% Acrylic)
Needles: Size 15, 16"circular
Gauge: 9 st x 12 rows in stockinette = 4 inches
Finished Cowl size: approximately 9 inches tall by 20 inches in circumference


Directions:
Cast on 45 stitches.
Join to knit in the round. Place a marker to show the beginning of a round.
Knit one round.
Knit three rounds of seed stitch:
Seed Stitch Round 1: *knit 1, purl 1*, repeat between *s until the end of the round, ending with a knit stitch
Seed Stitch Round 2: *purl 1, knit 1*, repeat between *s until the end of the round, ending with a purl stitch
Seed Stitch Round 3: *knit 1, purl 1*, repeat between *s until the end of the round, ending with a knit stitch
Knit in stockinette stitch (all knitting in the round) until the cowl measures approximately 8 inches from the cast on edge.
Knit three rounds of seed stitch:
Seed Stitch Round 1: *knit 1, purl 1*, repeat between *s until the end of the round, ending with a knit stitch
Seed Stitch Round 2: *purl 1, knit 1*, repeat between *s until the end of the round, ending with a purl stitch
Seed Stitch Round 3: *knit 1, purl 1*, repeat between *s until the end of the round, ending with a knit stitch
Knit one row.
Bind off all stitches.

When I made mine with one skein of Sirdar big softie, I had about 12 inches of yarn left when I finished binding off all stitches.

Modifications:
Different gauge: Find your stitch count for 4 inches. Multiple this number by 5. Cast on that number of stitches. (If it is an even number, cast on one additional stitch--it will work better for the seed stitch rows to have an odd number of stitches). Follow the rest of the pattern as written.

Want to knit flat instead of the round: Simply follow the pattern as written except:
Seed stitch: Start every seed stitch row with a knit stitch.
Stockinette stitch: Alternate between knit and purl rows for the stockinette stitch portion of the cowl.
Seam up with the mattress stitch when complete.


This is a great pattern for beginners and can really be adapted to any yarn and needle size you want to use. Hope you have fun making this pattern your own!