Burgdorf Cowl

Modular knitting is always great to show off yarn with a longer color gradient. This cowl makes no exception. It is knitted flat in trapezoids at right angles to each other. When it's long enough it is  worked into a cowl by grafting.

This cowl is named after the lovely town of Burgdorf in Switzerland where I spend a wonderful time at a friend's place. It's where knitted this cowl.
 

 

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

A German version of this pattern is available in this blogpost.
Eine deutsche Version dieser Anleitung gibt es hier.
 

Materials

• about 100 grams of lace weight yarn - I used Schachenmayr Merino Extrafine 285
• 3.25mm needles - I recommend long circulars, you can use straight needles as well, but you might need 3 needles at times (e.g. when you pick up stitches to start a new trapezoid or when you graft the ends together at the end); I used rather short circulars
• scrap yarn for provisional CO
• one stitch marker
• a tapestry needle for grafting and for weaving in ends

Techniques

• 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.
• Picking up stitches from the side and knitting them (pick up and knit): https://youtu.be/oUPhLYkC0Fw , https://youtu.be/4XtGL8vJf-g or https://youtu.be/htAHtNnuE7Q
• Picking up stitches without working yarn (pick up):  https://youtu.be/7c5IzAE_hn8
  For the difference between pick up and knit vs. pick up see this blogpost by SPINNITY KNITS.
• Grafting in garter stitch: A technique to get an invisible (knitted) seam - this technique is shown in this YouTube Video by knittinghelp.com.

Gauge and Size

When knitting in garter stitch 13 stitches gave 5 cm in width, and 12 garter stitch ridges (i.e. 24 rows) 5 cm in height.

I knitted a total of 24 trapezoids (using up my 100 grams of lace weight yarn). After blocking my cowl measured 22 cm in width and 120 cm in circumference.


Construction

The picture below shows the general construction. The cowl is made from modules in trapezoid shape that build on each other. In the end the upper edge of the last trapezoid is grafted to the lower edge of the 2nd one - and the lower edge of the very first trapezoid is grafted to the upper edge of the one but last trapezoid plus a few picked up stitches.

The picture to the right shows how the first trapezoid sections fit together. Trapezoid 2 is knitted at right angles to trapezoid 1 (picking up stitches from trapezoid 1). Trapezoid 3 is knitted on top of trapezoid 1, using the leftover stitches from trapezoid 1 and stitches picked up from the side of trapezoid 2. Trapezoid 4 in turn is knitted at right angles to trapezoid 3, using stitches picked up from the side trapezoid 3 and the leftover stitches from trapezoid 2. And so on ...

 

Instructions

PCO 80 with scrap yarn
Slip 30 sts, place marker, k50 with working yarn


Trapezoid 1
R1: ssk, k to m
R2: sl1, k to end
R3: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 2 and 3 18 more times
There are now 30 stitches with working yarn on your needles - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid
Your piece should now look like in photo 1.

Trapezoid 2
R1: place marker and pick up and knit 20 stitches from the slip stitch edge of trapezoid 1, then go on and knit the 30 sts left of the provisional CO -> between your stitch marker and the end there are now 50 stitches. Your piece should look like in photo 2.
R2: ssk, k to m
R3: sl1, k to end
R4: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 3 and 4, 18 more times -> there are now 30 "active" stitches for trapezoid 2 - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid

Trapezoid 3
R1: place marker and pick up and knit 20 stitches from the slip stitch edge of the last trapezoid, then go on and knit the 30 sts left of the last but one trapezoid  -> between your stitch marker and the end there are now 50 stitches. The upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 3.
R2: ssk, k to m
R3: sl1, k to end
R4: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 3 and 4, 18 more times (after a few times the upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 4) -> there are now 30 "active" stitches for this trapezoid - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid.

Trapezoid 4
R1: place marker and pick up and knit 20 stitches from the slip stitch edge of the last trapezoid, then go on and knit the 30 sts left of the last but one trapezoid  -> between your stitch marker and the end there are now 50 stitches. The upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 3.
R2: ssk, k to m
R3: sl1, k to end
R4: ssk, k to m
Repeat rows 3 and 4, 18 more times (after a few times the upper edge of your piece should look similar to photo 4) -> there are now 30 "active" stitches for this trapezoid - these stitches will not be knitted during the next trapezoid.

Repeat trapezoids 3 and 4 until your cowl has the desired length.
I knitted a total of 24 trapezoids since I prefer my cowls to be double-length, i.e. I like them to fit at least twice around my neck.

Cut yarn and leave long tail (enough to graft 30 stitches)

Put stitches from pCO on a new knitting needle (since I didn't have another 3.25mm needle – I used a slightly smaller one (3mm)). For orientation you might want to place a marker between the two first trapezoids (i.e. there will be 50 stitches for the very first trapezoid and 30 stitches for the 2nd).

Hold the last trapezoid you knitted and the 2nd trapezoid together (see photo 5) and graft together in garter stitch (30 sts) with the tail you left after knitting the last trapezoid.

From the side of the last trapezoid pick up 20 sts (please note that this is not pick up and knit). Combined with the stitches of the one but last trapezoid you now have 50 stitches on that needle.
Hold these stitches together with the provisional CO of the very first trapezoid (see photo 6) and graft in garter stitch.

Block gently.