Reagan Cowl Knitting Pattern

Reagan Cowl in String Classica

What Is Being Made

The Reagan Cowl is a luxurious, seamless knitted cowl designed by Lisa Hoffman. This beginner-friendly project creates a sophisticated neckpiece with a finished circumference of 20 inches and a height of 9½ inches. The cowl is worked in the round from the bottom up, making it an ideal project for knitters looking to develop their skills with circular needles and cable techniques.

Techniques Used

This design employs several key knitting techniques that work together to create visual interest and texture:

• Bottom-up construction: The cowl is knitted from the cast-on edge upward, allowing you to try on the piece as you work and adjust the fit if needed.
• Seamless, worked in the round: Using a 16-inch circular needle, the entire cowl is created as one continuous tube without seams. This technique requires joining stitches carefully at the beginning to avoid twisting and using stitch markers to track the beginning of each round.
• Cable work: The centerpiece of the design features dramatic cable stitches. The pattern includes C12F (cable 12 front) and C12B (cable 12 back) maneuvers, where 6 stitches are slipped to a cable needle and held either in front or in back of the work before knitting. These cables create the signature twisted, rope-like texture that gives the Reagan Cowl its elegant appearance.
• Ribbing: The cowl begins with a K2/P2 (knit 2, purl 2) ribbed section that provides structure and helps the cowl cling comfortably to the neck.
• Increases: Strategic increases using the M1 (make 1) technique expand the stitch count from 88 stitches after ribbing to 120 stitches before the cable pattern begins, creating the proper proportions for the design.

Stitches Used

The Reagan Cowl pattern incorporates fundamental knitting stitches combined with more advanced cable techniques:

• Knit (K): The primary stitch that forms the smooth stockinette background of the cable sections.
• Purl (P): Used to create reverse stockinette stitch borders that frame and define the cable panels, making them visually pop against the background.
• Cable stitches (C12F and C12B): These advanced stitches involve crossing groups of 12 stitches over one another. C12F (cable 12 front) crosses 6 stitches to the front, while C12B (cable 12 back) crosses 6 stitches to the back. These crossings occur every 12 rounds, creating a dynamic, interlocking cable pattern that repeats across the circumference of the cowl.
• K2tog (knit 2 together): A decrease stitch used to shape the cowl as needed.
• M1 (make 1): An increase stitch that lifts the bar between stitches and knits it through the back loop, creating new stitches invisibly within the fabric.

Materials and Tools

The Reagan Cowl pattern calls for a luxurious blend of premium fibers worked on appropriately sized needles:

• Yarn A: 2 balls of String Yarns CLASSICA, a 100% cashmere yarn. Each ball contains 1.75 ounces (50 grams) and provides 125 yards (114 meters) of yardage. The specified colorway is pearl (color 100006).
• Yarn B: 2 balls of Stacy Charles Fine Yarns BLUEBELL, a luxury blend of 42% mohair, 40% polyester, and 18% silk. Each ball weighs 0.88 ounces (25 grams) and yields 136 yards (124 meters). The colorway used is natural (color 9080).
• Construction note: Both yarns are held together as one strand throughout the project, creating a sumptuous, textured fabric that combines the softness of cashmere with the airiness and sheen of the mohair-silk blend.
• Needle: US size 9 (5.0mm) 16-inch (40-centimeter) circular needle for working the main body in the round.
• Cable needle: Required for executing the C12F and C12B cable crosses.