Stack Overflow Cowl

Stacked stitches are a wonderful way to achieve lovely and intriguing color patterns. This cowl is knitted flat - started with a provsional cast on and ended by grafting. It may take a while to get the hang of knitting stacked stitches but it's definitely a worthwhile activity - since the finished piece is not your average garter stitch cowl.

The first pattern with stacked stitches I saw was Xandy Peters' Fox Paws Pattern - absolutely stunning! Another one of hers is called Ribbon Candy and available on knitty.com. In this pattern I'm going to use a similar notation to hers for the stacked stitches.

As to the pattern name - a stack overflow is a computing term. It means that an execution stack (a part of the computer's memory) grows beyond the memory that is reserved for it - which can lead to computer security vulnerabilities. For more details see this Wikipedia article.

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Materials

• about 150 grams of fingering weight yarn in two colors
• 3.25mm needles (straight or circulars)
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Special Stitches and Techniques

• kyok = k1, yo, k1 into the same stitch
• SB = slip back the number of sts to the left hand needle
• inc1-9 = [kyok, SB2] 3 times, kyok, k3
  This is called stacked increase. A YouTube video that shows how to make stacked increases can be found on So, I make stuff's YouTube channel
• dec9-1 = k3, s1, k2tog, psso, SB1, k2tog, pass next st over, SB1 2 times, k2tog, pass next st over. This is called stacked decrease. Also from So, I make stuff's YouTube channel here's a video that shows how to do stacked decreases.
• BBO = backwards bind off: insert the left hand needle into the last 2 sts and knit together, alternatively you can turn your work: do a p2tog and slip the last st back on the left hand needle
• Provisional CO: My favorite method for a provision CO is the crochet provisional CO - it is shown in this Youtube video by New Stitch a Day.
• Grafting Garter Stitch: Shown in this YouTube video by New Stitch a Day. If you want to know all about grafting, please read the brilliant "Grafting Myths" series on Joni Coniglio's blog on knittingdaily.com.
• Carrying yarn up:  If you want to avoid cutting your yarn with every color change (and subsequently to have to weave in too many ends), you will carry up the yarn on the side of your work - this technique is shown in this YouTube video by Knit Purl Hunter.

Size

I did a cast-on of 51 stitches and total of 38 pattern repeast (38 times the 6 rows). My scarf has a width of 29 cm and a circumference of 150 cm.

Instructions

Provisionally CO51 (or if you'd like to vary the width, cast on a multiple of 4 plus 3 (4n+3))
Row 1 (WS): k all
Row 2 (RS):  k1 * inc1-9, k3 repeat from * until there are only two stitches stitch left, inc1-9, k1
Row 3 (WS): * k2tog k2 kfb k1 kfb k2 ssk k1 repeat from * until there are only 11 sts left, k2tog k2 kfb k1 kfb k2 ssk
Change color
Row 4 (RS) = Row 3
Row 5 (WS) = Row 3
Row 6 (RS): BO4 (and carry up yarn from other color), k2, * dec9-1, k3 repeat from * until there are only 4 sts left, BBO4

Repeat rows 1 to 6 and change color everytime you get to row 4, i.e. you knit 6 rows with each color (rows 4 to 6 and 1 to 3).

Repeat until your cowl has reached the desired lenght - make sure to end with the color you started with. Leave a tail of about 1 meter for grafting. Place the stitches from the provisional CO on the second needle, hold the ends together (RS out) and graft in garter stitch.

Weave in ends an block.

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