This cowl is knit extra wide (or long depending on how you think about it!) and then folded in half so it is of double thickness. The chain construction of the baby alpaca yarn makes is oh so soft and light as a feather!
Yarn: 4 skeins Misti Alpaca Tui (each is 120 yds, Sport weight). Two skeins in Charcoal Gray, one skein of light Gray and one in black.
Since these skeins retail for $6.00 each this yarn makes for nicely priced project or gift for someone special.
Needles: Size 10, 32 inch circs.
Cast on: 200 loose stitches
You can choose to do a provisional cast on as you will be joining these when you fold the cowl but I did not I used a darning needle and sewed the two edges together.
Twist your work one time to form a Mobias ring (there are may tutorials with clever ways to do this. Frankly I seem to do it accidentally most of the time).
Knit around creating random stripes with widths in whatever manner you like. I worked shorter and darker stripes on one half of my work and then shifted to lighter broader stripes on the second half. Continue to knit until you are almost out of yarn. I made sure to start and end with the same yarn color.
Save 3 yards of the beginning and end shade for stitching the two edges together (Charcoal for me). If you choose the provisional cast on technique save enough to bind off the two edges.
When I had almost run out of yarn I very loosely bound off. I then folded my piece in half so that my cast one edge was wrong sides together with my newly bound off edge. Using pins I evenly distributed sections to that I sewed the two sides together evenly. Using a loose whip stitch I joined the two sides together. When finished the tube can be moved around to whatever striped sequence you like best. When you wear this half of the front side will show and half of the backside.
