Finished knitting the Typha cowl. I had trouble figuring the gauge for this because I was not very experienced, but I should have gone up at least one size in needles.
I am knitting a cowl in shades of pink – the finished photo above most closely matches the actual colors. This pattern comes from designer Kirsten Kapur and is named “Typha”. The link takes you to the Ravelry page where the pattern is sold as a download.
The cowl is a simple one to create, with the first part being a simple garter stitch. One row of knitting and the next of purling. After that, a simple repeating lace pattern is followed to finish off the cowl. The pictures below came out very “Pink”.
The second part of the cowl is a lace pattern. After knitting a shawl in the Through the Loops Knit Along, this pattern is very simple to follow. And I believe that most knitters with some experience can easily follow the pattern. It is fun to do.
I will admit that getting started with this pattern was not easy. For some reason my cowl is coming out much smaller than the pattern implies (Go up 1 pr 2 needles size next time!). I did do a swatch to check gauge, but I am not familiar with figuring out gauge and finding it with a lace pattern threw me off. (Now I know to knit the pattern in a 4×4 square to measure for gauge.)
Consequently when I tried to cast on (for first the smaller cowl, and then the larger) the yarn did not reach, so I had to begin over.
My yarn is obviously thinner than what Kirsten used to create her cowl. The yarn she used is Fibre Company “Meadow”, which is listed as “heavier lace”, so I bought “heavy lace yarn” from Miss Babs, thinking it would be the same. I guess not. Live and learn… that is my motto, and once again, I have learned from making a mistake.
So my “long” version will actually be short, and probably not long enough to wrap twice. My plan was to make the shorter version of the cowl to give to my daughter, but now I will keep this one and try again to make a correct size for her.
I do plan to make this cowl again using a heavier yarn and trying to figure out my gauge. It’s a beautiful and unique cowl in the two colors, which gives us many color choices.
New England's Narrow Road 