Louisa Harding Hollyhock Cowl Knitting Pattern

Louisa Harding Hollyhock Cowl

What is Being Made

The Louisa Harding Hollyhock is a seamless knitted cowl designed to be worked in the round using circular needles. This project creates a neck-worn accessory featuring decorative lace edging and striped colorwork throughout the design. The cowl is constructed from the bottom up, beginning with a picot cast-on edge that establishes the finished circumference.

Techniques Used

This cowl employs several advanced knitting techniques to create visual interest and texture:

• Seamless construction: The entire cowl is worked in continuous rounds using circular needles, eliminating the need for seaming and creating a smooth, professional finish.
• Lace knitting: Decorative lace patterning is incorporated through yarn overs and decreases, creating openwork sections that add elegance and visual lightness to the design.
• Striped colorwork: Multiple yarn colors are introduced and changed throughout the pattern to create horizontal stripes that complement the lace and textured elements.
• Picot cast-on: The foundation uses a picot cast-on technique, which creates a decorative, scalloped edge by casting on and binding off small groups of stitches in sequence.
• Slip stitch texture: Broken slip stitch patterning is used in the main body of the cowl, creating subtle texture and visual variation while maintaining the fabric's drape.

Stitches Used

The Hollyhock cowl utilizes fundamental knitting stitches combined in structured patterns:

• Knit (K) and Purl (P): Basic stitches form the foundation of all pattern rounds and create smooth stockinette sections.
• Yarn overs (yo): These create the decorative openings characteristic of lace knitting, increasing stitch count within pattern repeats.
• Decreases: Slip, slip, knit (SSK) and knit two together (K2tog) decreases balance yarn overs and shape the lace motifs.
• Slip stitches (sl1): Used in the broken slip stitch pattern sections, these stitches are worked with yarn held either in front (BYF) or in back (TYB) of the work to create texture.
• Stitch markers: Placed strategically throughout the pattern to mark pattern repeats and the end of round, ensuring accurate stitch placement across the circular construction.

Materials

The pattern specifies the following needles and yarn requirements:

• Circular needles: Two sizes are used—5.5 mm (US 9) needles for the picot cast-on and initial lace edging rounds, and 6 mm (US 10) needles for the main body and striped slip stitch sections. The larger needle size accommodates the main pattern while the smaller size creates a more refined edge.
• Yarn: The pattern calls for three distinct yarn colors, designated as A, B, and C throughout the instructions. These colors are worked in alternating stripes to create the visual design. The total stitch count of 200 stitches establishes the cowl's finished circumference.

Pattern Structure

The cowl is organized into distinct sections. The picot cast-on creates the decorative lower edge, followed by 20 rounds of striped scallop lace edging that establish the cowl's visual character. The pattern then transitions to the main body, which features 14 rounds of striped broken slip stitch texture worked across the expanded needle size. Stitch markers placed every 20 stitches help maintain pattern accuracy across the 10 repeats that form the complete round.