Autumn Möbius Cowl

Hello friends!

This is my February pattern in the "Pattern a Month" challenge I have set myself. I know, I know, I'm cutting it fine this month, the only reason I made it in time this month is because it's a leap year and I got an extra day :-)

This pattern for a simple cowl is great for beginners (and more experienced crocheters :-), it works up quickly, with a small amount of yarn, so it's a good stash buster :-) It also makes a great last minute gift.

I've included instructions at the end of the pattern on how you can easily modify the size of the cowl to make it as long or as short as you like.

You can find this pattern on Ravelry HERE

Have fun!

Autumn Möbius Cowl

This pattern is written using British/Australian crochet terms, with U.S. terms in parenthesis.

Abbreviations:

ch : chain

sl st: slip stitch

tr: treble (U.S. dc: double crochet)

Materials:

4.5mm crochet hook.

Approx. 105m (115yds) DK or 8 ply yarn

Scissors

Yarn needle for weaving in ends.

Tension/Gauge:

14 sts & 10 rows in tr = 10cm x 10cm

Although tension is not essential in this project if you have less stitches across 10cm, your cowl will be larger and require more yarn and if you have less stitches across 10cm, your cowl will be smaller and may require less yarn :-)

Finished size: 66cm around, and 13.5cm high.

Pattern:

Ch 92, join with a sl st in first ch to form a ring, taking care not to twist your chain.

Round 1: 3ch [to count as 1tr (1dc), here and through out pattern], 1tr in each ch to end, DO NOT join with a sl st as you normally would when working in the round. Now you will flip the beginning of your work forwards and down, as shown in the picture below:

Now you will be working into the other side of the foundation chain, as shown in the picture below. Work 1 tr into each st to the end, join with a sl st in 3rd ch at beginning of round.

Round 2: 3ch, 1tr into each st to end, join with sl st in 3rd ch at beginning of round.

You will notice here that each Round is essentially 2 whole Rounds (this might not make much sense unless you're looking at your work :-)

Rounds 3-5: As Round 2.

Fasten off, weave in ends. Finished!

You can easily make this cowl larger or small by using more or less chain at the beginning, and by completing more or less rounds. You could make a smaller one for a child, a cowl like this is great for kids as it doesn't have any long bits hanging down, like a scarf, getting your way while you're playing :-) Or you could make yourself a longer one, more like an infinity scarf rather than a cowl. Below are instructions on how to adjust the length of your cowl, and how to work out how many stitches you'll need to make a cowl if you want to use a different weight yarn & different size hook :-)

To work out how many chain stitches you will need to start with to get a particular length cowl/scarf you can use the following method:

Make a tension/gauge square with yarn and hook you are using, count how many stitches fit into 10cm. Then divide the desired finished length of the cowl/scarf by 10, then multiply that number by the number of stitches that fit into 10cm, according to the tension/gauge you have. This will give you the number of chain stitches you need to start with. Sound confusing? Here's an example:

The finished length of the cowl in the pictures is 66cm, the tension/gauge using this yarn and hook is 14 sts in 10cm. 66 divided by 10 = 6.6. Then, 6.6 multiplied by 14 = 92.4, so I started with 92 stitches. I hope that helps!!

If you have any questions, queries, need assistance to complete your cowl or find an error, please don't hesitate to leave a comment and I'll gladly help where I can :-)

Copyright is held by the author (SharaLambethDesigns). Copyright remains that of the author at all times. The pattern is for personal use only. Reproduction of this pattern in anyway (electronic, email, photocopying, transcribing etc) is strictly prohibited, except with the explicit permission of the author. Please do not sell the pattern or the finished product that is made using this pattern without permission of the author, as this is a direct infringement of the copyright laws protecting this pattern. Also please be aware that copyright laws vary from country to country (sometimes even from state to state), I am Australian, in Australia, therefore my patterns are protected by Australian copyright laws. This copyright protection still stands no matter what country the item is made in or who makes it. Thank you!!

If you do want to sell the cowls you make using this pattern at a market, craft fair or in your online store please do ask, as in most cases I will give permission :-)

And please feel free to make as many cowls as you can, to donate to your local charities.

Folk Squirrel Brooches

Hello friends!

I have been adding some new pieces to my store :-) I'm pleased to introduce the Folk Squirrel series :-)

You can find these Folk Squirrels in my online store HERE :-)

The white Squirrels are laser cut from recycled pine MDF wood, with a white melamine veneer. The natural wood Squirrel is laser cut from sustainable Rimu wood :-)

Jo Sharp Wool

Hello friends!

Today I'm lucky enough to be working with this gorgeous Jo Sharp 100% wool yarn to make some samples for a workshop that is coming up at my LYS (Local Yarn Store).

Aren't the colours just divine :-)

I'm making 2 pairs of fingerless gloves from two balls of yarn. I'll show you the pictures of the finished gloves soon :-)

Hand Dyeing Yarn

Hello friends,

Recently I have been experimenting with hand dyeing yarn. It's lots of fun, you should try it too! :-)

I have been using food dye, yep that's right, just regular old food dye.

I had tried yarn dyeing with food dye several years ago, with varying results, from kind of nice to hideous. Then I found this tutorial on Youtube and it was a much better method than I had previously been using.

I had been seeing lots of gradient dyed yarn around and wondered how folks were doing it... then suddenly it came to me! So this is what I came up with. (I'll add my tutorial of how I did the gradient dyeing soon :-)

So, it's a self striping yarn, in graduating rainbow colours :-) I have no idea what I'm going to knit or crochet with it yet, but I'm sure I'll be able to find something :-)

The yarn is a wool/angora/bamboo/nylon mix that I had hanging around in my stash. I was surprised how well the yarn picked up the dye, because of the bamboo & nylon content. The yarn is mainly wool & angora though, and through all of my dyeing experiments I know that animal fibres pick up the food dyes really well & plant fibres and synthetic fibres do not pick up the food dyes at all (well maybe a teensy bit, but nothing worth the effort :-)

Below is an image of what the yarn looked like before I wound it into a ball with my nostepinne. I know, I know, it looks all scary and knotty... but it wasn't (phew!) However, after hand winding approx 1km of yarn after my dyeing experiments I ordered an umbrella swift and yarn winder online (yippee!)

Also, I just wanted to add that a few people have been concerned that the food dyes are not colour fast and will just wash out, or bleed unpleasantly, but the vinegar and heat help to fix the dyes. I have also tested the food dyed yarns for colour fastness and they have all held up really well, even after washing in the machine and/or soaking :-)

Just in case you were wondering, for the colours in this particular yarn I used Queens food dye that I got in the baking section of the supermarket, except for the violet colour, which is a gel food colour from Spotlight, but it's also available at specialty cake decorating shops :-) Also, here's a tip, you can't use the "natural" food dyes from Queens... the colours are made using plant extracts, and while they are excellent to use when you're actually dyeing food, they don't work for dyeing yarn :-)