Loopy Cowl Is Loopy. The pattern

I made a cowl.

I know you can see where the bedroom needs painting. I'm decorating. I'm doing it

And now I want to share the pattern with you. And before you think, gosh I don’t need a pattern for that it looks easy, well yes it is quite easy but I am going to save you the trouble of working out how many stitches to cast on, because I had to start this three times before it came out cowl-sized. My first attempt would have looked a bit generous on Shrek (although I think it would have suited him, because he’s normally way too conservative with colour).

I feel any caption to a photo such as this is necessarily redundant

Before we start, though, this is how you do loop stitch:

For loop stitch:

Knit next stitch but don’t slip it off the needle. Take the yarn around to the front of the work and loop it round the thumb of your left hand, then take it to the back again, knit the same stitch again and slip it off the needle. Transfer the last two stitches knitted (i.e. the two that came from the one loop stitch) back onto the left hand needle, then knit them both together through the back. Voilà! Loop stitch!

And now for the pattern:

I used almost 2 balls of Sirdar Click Chunky, so about 140m, but you could use any chunky-ish yarn (because, drum roll, gauge isn’t critical for this project!). I knitted it on a 6.5mm circular needle which was about 17” tip to tip and didn’t need to magic loop, which was useful as I wouldn’t have had a clue how to do it. If you do, though, feel free ;-).

CO 54 stitches (pattern works with any even number). CO with a flexible cast on (I always just do the knit cast on. Yeah yeah, I know, throw me out of the Sorority Of Knitters. I don't swatch, either).
Join for working in round, and place marker for start of round. 54 stitches gives you a cowl which is about 19”-20” circumference.

K 2 rows.

Begin pattern repeat:

Row 1: Loop 1, K 1, repeat to end.
Row 2: K.
Row 3: K 1, Loop 1, repeat to end.
Row 4: K.

Keep going until your patience or your yarn runs out, ending either with Row 2 or Row 4 (it doesn’t make any difference which). I managed 7.5 repeats which made my cowl about 8” high, which seems a perfectly reasonable size.

Cast off VERY LOOSELY – there aren’t that many stitches so if you cast off tightly you might not be able to get it over your head, and that would be a bit tragic.

Weave in ends. Prepare for ‘what on earth are you wearing?’ comments. Wear your Loopy Cowl Is Loopy with pride.

Why, yes. It really is that colour

Hope you enjoy. Let me know if I’ve missed anything! Feel free to use Loopy Cowl is Loopy for whatever purposes you want - a link back to me would be good karma, but, apart from that, go forth, knit loopy things, my knitting friends. x

Edited to add photo of me wearing cowl like a sensible person, even though we have previously established my un-photo-genic-ness:

You would not wear it with a tshirt. You would wear it with a nice coat and you would relax your shoulders