Made & Found: Structured Alpaca Cowl

With all the cowl making Catherine has been doing this past year, I finally got motivated to knit one for myself. Take forever, right? I buy nice yarn with every intention of making something, but then I let the skeins sit on my dresser for weeks. Ok, months. Catherine finally gave up asking me if I had started the hat I was supposed to be working on in October. I think because I flipped it and used the hat yarn for my cowl...

Because I'm a fan of mostly mindless knitting, I didn't want a pattern that forced me to figure out what a k1p1sskkyo2pyo3 is. (I just made that up, and I hope to God it's not a real stitch.) So, I chose a pattern from The Purl Bee that was simple in both form and execution: the Structured Alpaca Cowl.

The Purl Bee pattern is free, and while the Alpaca Pure yarn they suggest does look very nice, it's $26.00 a skein. This project requires two entire skeins of Alpaca Pure*, and according to Laura, there were no leftovers. That was a little steep for me, so I went with Aslan Trends' Royal Alpaca in Hunter Green. It's 100% alpaca, super soft, and only $18.50 a skein.

A slouchy, cozy, and wonderfully soft handmade cowl for less than $20.00? Not too shabby for something that's become part of my official at-home uniform.

*I modified the pattern slightly because Laura included this bib flap on the front. I think it helps maintain the cowl's structure, but I was dubious about the look of the bib. If you want to make this cowl without the bib, there are instructions on adjusting the pattern in the comments section of that post (which I did not see until after I spent precious brainpower figuring out how to adjust the pattern on my own. Not that I'm bitter.). The good news is that without the bib, I only needed one skein for this project.