Pattern Release: Zeccola Cowl

You've seen the sample for this pattern a number of times as I worked on it back in December, but here, finally, is the finished piece. This is the Zeccola Cowl.

This cowl is an entirely seamless piece. It's knit in the round, starting with a provisional cast on, and when you're done, you graft the beginning and end together to form a continuous tube. This both makes the knitting easier and neater (because the wrong side of the colorwork and all the ends are hidden on the inside) and makes the finished piece extra cozy, as you end up with a double thickness of fabric.

The yarn I used for the sample is Frabjous Fibers' Wonderland Yarns line, specifically their Mad Hatter Mini Skein Packs. I picked two gradients: a neutral (#20 Dormouse) and a bright gradient (#31 Fuchsia to Turquoise). As you can see, the sections alternate between neutral and color, transitioning from the darkest to the lightest neutral and from the lightest to the darkest color. Each time a new color is joined, there's a stranded colorwork section.

As far as knitting skills go, I'd say this is a fairly easy knit. All you need to know how to do to knit this cowl is a provisional cast on, stranded colorwork with two colors, and Kitchener stitch to graft the ends together. The stranded pattern is the same every time, and it becomes fairly intuitive after a couple of repeats.

While I designed the pattern with the specific yarn in mind, it lends itself customization. In fact, I've included an extensive customization section in the pattern to help you adapt the pattern to just about any yarn you want to use and just about any number of colors.

If you think you might want to cast on right away, then I'd like to invite you to join us in my Ravelry group for a knitalong! We'll be knitting our cowls together for the next six weeks or so, and there will be prizes available for those who finish. We'll be around to help with color selection, customization, and any other questions you might have. I hope you'll join us!