Hello folks hope your new year has begun smoothly. My family and I had a rough start to the new year. The first couple weeks were spent with illness and the rest of the month trying to get better. During those weeks, knitting the Winterland Cowl gave me a sense of calm and rest. The soothing colors, the warmth and soft fuzziness of the yarn reminded me of the coziness of the winter season, the beauty of the snow covered trees, and the quietness of nature. It’s a time when nature slows down and rests. I am grateful knitting, crocheting and weaving helped me slow down and heal this month.

The yarn is a blend of acrylic and alpaca that I purchased several years ago. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued but recommendations for other yarns that can be substituted for it can be found on Yarn Sub. Winterland Cowl is knit flat and in a rectangle with 2 different strands of yarn held together. It’s knit mainly in the stockinette knit stitch pattern and can be knit longer or shorter to preferred length or width. The bind off edge is then joined to the left border of the cast on edge with a zig-zag crochet join method. The Winterland Cowl is then finished with a few rounds of single crochet border at the neck and bottom edge.

Yarn: Premier Yarn Alpaca Dance in the Soft White and Silver Fog colorways
Knitting Needles: US #8 and US #10 (for cast on and bind off) 
Gauge: 4.5 stitches / 6.5 rows per inch in stockinette stitch with US #8 knitting needles
Crochet hook: US size 7 or 4.5 mm crochet hook
Abbreviations:
K: Knit
P: Purl
RS: right side
WS: wrong side
pm: place marker
rm: remove marker
sm: slip marker
wyif S1: bring working yarn to the front before slipping the next stitch purlwise

The Winterland Cowl Pattern (text and images for personal use only)

With 2 strands of yarn held together (one in each colorway) cast on 32 stitches with US #10 knitting needles

With US #8 knitting needles knit:

• Row 1 (RS): K2, pm, knit to 2 stitches before marker, pm, K1, wyif S1
• Row 2 (WS): K2, sm, purl to marker, sm, K1, wyif S1
• Row 3 (RS): K2, sm, knit to marker, sm, K1, wyif S1
• Row 4 (WS): K2, sm, purl to marker, sm, K1 wyif S1

Repeat Rows 3 and 4 till length of the knitted piece is about 32 inches (or preferred length) ending with the WS row.

Bind off (RS row): Bind off using US #10 knitting needles

With 2 strands of the Silver Fog colorway held together join the bind off edge with a zig zag crochet join method (several tutorials available for this method on Youtube) to the left side of the cast on edge as shown in the image above. 

With 2 strands of the Silver Fog colorway held together, add 5 rounds of single crochet border to the neck and bottom edge of the cowl with a US size 7 crochet hook. 

Hand wash and dry flat. Weave in the ends to finish the Winterland Cowl.