All About the Array Cowl Pattern

I’d been wanting to design another möbius cowl that uses mosaic knitting for a while, I really enjoyed working on the Compose Cowl and that was all the way back in 2022. I’d been hoping to start working on another mosaic knitting cowl design not long after I finished that project, but it was continually pushed to the back of the queue whilst I worked on other designs. I really find mosaic knitting enjoyable as you’re only having to knit with one colour at a time, plus it can be great for experimenting with including purl stitches to add texture. After releasing my first sock pattern and all the stress of figuring out the maths for something I’d never designed before, I decided it was a good time to return to more familiar, relaxing territory and work on another cowl design.

At the start of the design process I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted this cowl to look, so I began by creating lots of chart ideas and knitting experimental swatches. There were a lot of swatches that were quickly unravelled where they just didn’t work out, but I eventually knitted a swatch which had some potential. I made further changes to the chart and kept knitting swatches until I was happy with how the stitch pattern looked. The first swatches I knitted for this project looked vastly different to the final swatch, I always find it interesting how much an idea can evolve during this stage of a project.

I’d had the two skeins of yarn I chose for this project in my stash for a while. I purchased them from Truly Hooked at Yarndale a few years ago, knowing that I wanted to use them together for a cowl project at some point in the future. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally use this yarn. The purple colour is ‘Mulled Wine’ and the tan colour is ‘Juice’. Both skeins are the ‘Yak Sock’ base (70% superwash merino, 20% yak, 10% nylon), which feels very soft and luxurious - perfect for projects that are going to be worn against your neck. I don’t think you can really go wrong when picking colours for this cowl, as it can work well with harmonious colours as well as more high contrast combinations.  

For cowl projects like this, where the finished item needs to be specific dimensions, I like to have the pattern directions pretty much completed before I start knitting the project. I used the gauge information from my blocked final swatch to work out the stitch and row counts I was going to need, then I wrote as much of the pattern as I could. I also find that doing this allows me to easily double check that the pattern is all correct, because I can follow it carefully whilst I knit my sample and catch any errors.

Once I’d finished writing the pattern directions I was excited to finally start working on my cowl, which I found really enjoyable and relaxing to knit. The stitch pattern is simple and easy to memorise, so it was a great project to just pick up and get a few rows done whenever I had the time. I was also really eager to get this cowl finished and blocked since it really transforms the fabric. It’s one of those projects where blocking is really essential to opening up the columns of stitches so you can see all of the texture. I’m very pleased with the finished cowl, and I think it’ll be a great addition to any outfit in cooler weather. I’m sure I’ll be designing more cowls utilising mosaic knitting in the near future, since I enjoyed knitting this one so much and it’s given me plenty of design ideas.

Click the link below to check out the full details of the pattern.