This quick cowl is knit primarily in the round with short-row shaping. A simple wrap and turn short row works well in garter stitch and there’s no need to pick up the wraps. The pattern is written for a gradient set of five, but can easily be knit in two colors or as many as you’d like! Each section takes a very small amount of yarn, making this cowl a great way to use up your fingering-weight leftovers.
Skills needed: long-tail cast-on, short rows (detailed instructions provided), increasing. This is not a difficult knit, but you will need to take care to keep your place in the instructions!
Finished measurements: 10-25.5 cm tall and 62-84.5 cm in circumference (ranges because of varying circumference and height of piece)
Gauge: 18 stitches to 10 cm in lightly blocked garter stitch
Note: Though conversions to the metric system have been made on this page for your convenience, the pattern itself uses American measurements.
Contains:
- Knitting pattern for simple cowl using short rows to showcase a gradient or color set
- Diagram of color placement included
- Suitable for advanced beginners
Materials you need at home:
- Approximately 220 m of fingering weight yarn. The sample shown used the following meterage (lightest to darkest) C1 40 m; C2 30 m; C3 35 m; C4 45 m; and C5 70 m. Sample was knit in Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply (merino superwash)
- 3.5 mm/US 4 circular needle, or size needed to obtain gauge
- Stitch markers
- Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Laura Aylor
If ‘knitting designer’ had been one of the job choices for those aptitude tests they give you in high school, I wouldn’t have spent so many years trying to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. My best subject in high school was math; my best classes in college were logic, drawing, and a commercial art class. After careers in computer programming/analysis and child-rearing, knit design snuck up on me, but I think it’s the perfect use of my odd skill set! I love every step of the process, from figuring out how to actually make what I’ve envisioned to putting the finishing touches on a pattern, not to mention all the knitting that comes in between!
I also love reading and hiking and spending time on Brier Island in Nova Scotia every summer.