Friday, 7 February 2025

Discover Your Inner Designer: How to Crochet the Perfect Cowl, Part 1

Image shows a blue and green crocheted cowl against a grey background

Hello! As you probably know, crocheted cowls are a much loved accessory, offering the perfect blend of warmth and style. However, if you’ve been crocheting for a while now, have you thought about designing your own cowl? This can be an immensely rewarding experience because your cowl will be unique. No one else will have one quite like it!. I’ve just finished designing and crocheting my River Never Sleeps Cowl (pictured above), so in this 2 part blog post series, I'm going to guide you through the essential steps of designing a crocheted cowl which perfectly reflects your personal taste and style.

I’m going to lay out the steps for designing a möbius cowl which is a cowl that’s worked in the round as a long tube and sewn together upon completion. The twist in a möbius cowl creates a continuous loop with a subtle but nonetheless intriguing visual effect. The way the fabric drapes and moves is different from a standard circular cowl (worked up and down the way), adding a touch of unique style with the twist highlighting stitch patterns in interesting ways. One huge advantage of the möbius cowl is that all the ends are hidden in the inside, which is especially good news if you choose to work with multiple colour changes!

First Up, Inspiration: 

Before jumping into the technical side of things, take a moment to gather your inspiration: browse through crochet pattern books, magazines and online platforms like Pinterest and Ravelry to explore different cowl styles, stitch patterns, and yarn choices. You may wish to sketch out some ideas, but this is not essential - it depends on your way of working.

Stitch Patterns:

Next I want you to choose the stitch pattern for your cowl. For this construction method, you’ll be working in the round, so choose a stitch pattern which works well in the round - the right side will be showing all the time. Most stitch patterns can be adapted to work in the round, but there are some exceptions. Perhaps you crocheted a hat or a sweater recently and you liked the stitch pattern you used? Well, if it was crocheted straight (without any increases) this will work well for a cowl. You are looking for anything from a 1 round repeat to a four round repeat (let’s keep it simple for your first one, ok). Another place to find stitch inspiration is in a stitch dictionary, although these are usually written for rows of stitches so you’ll have to do a bit of figuring out to switch to rounds, but it’s certainly doable. Searches on Pinterest, Google etc will also bring up stitch patterns and combinations.

  • Simple Stitches: Explore basic stitches like double crochet, half trebles or trebles for a clean and classic look.

  • Textured Stitches: Stitches such as bobble stitches, popcorns, or shell stitches will all add depth and visual interest.

An outstretched hand holds a crocheted cowl on red, yellow and green against a background of gorse bushes
Gorse Cowl - another of my möbius cowl designs

Yarn Choice:

The yarn you use will have a huge impact on the look of your finished cowl. At this stage you may wish to crochet up a practice version in stash yarn, in which case as long as it’s roughly similar to your final vision, yarn choice isn’t so important. However, if you’re going for it with this version, then here are a few things to consider.

  • Fibre Content: Consider the warmth, drape and texture you want to create. There are lots of different wools to choose from as well as cotton, linen, acrylic and blends.

  • Weight: Choose a yarn weight that complements your chosen stitch pattern and desired drape. As a general rule of thumb, the finer the yarn the softer the drape and the warmer the finished cowl (because more body heat is trapped in the fibres). However, I have crocheted up a few cowls in chunky yarn and they look fab!

  • Colour: Select a colour or colours which resonate with you and complement your wardrobe. This is a chance to show the world your personality!

Size:

For this exercise, the finished depth of your cowl will be around 20cm and the finished width of your cowl (after joining with a twist) will be around 36cm. The 20cm measurement will be worked in the round as a tube, so it will actually be a round of 40cm. The 36cm width before sewing up will be a long tube of around 80cm in length.


Swatching:

Create a swatch, in the round, to ensure your stitches match the vision you have in your head. It doesn’t need to be as wide as your intended cowl width, just enough to try out the pattern and check how it looks and drapes. You may need to play around with stitches or hook sizes to achieve the look you have in mind. 

Note down the following details for later:

  • The length of your pattern repeat in centimetres.

  • The height of your pattern repeat in centimetres (although you can simply crochet until you reach the desired length, this measurement is less important)

  • How often you envision any colour changes.

This is the end of Part 1 of this two part series on designing your own cowl. I'll publish Part 2 next Friday here on the blog or you could sign up to my mailing list to have it delivered straight to your inbox.

If you decide to have a go at this project, be sure to tag me in your photos on social media, I'd love to see! Any questions? Leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

Until next time, happy crocheting,

Marta xx

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Discover Your Inner Designer: How to Crochet the Perfect Cowl, Part 2

Hello, I'm returning, as promised,  with the second installment of my two part series on designing your own crocheted cowl. I hope you f...