Rainbow Pearls Cowl

I was searching through my stash in order to find something for a new brioche scarf when I found this one beautiful 50 gram skein of Schulana Colorelli - a variegated yarn in a wonderful rainbow palette. I had bought it a few years ago with a view of knitting a pair of fingerless gloves for a friend (who wears bolder colors than I do), but somehow I never got round to knitting them and so the yarn was slumbering peacefully in one of my yarn boxes.

The Rainbow Pearls Cowl is knitted in the round from bottom to top and all in seed stitch. It is comfortably wide around the lower edge and narrows towards the top. It's an easy knitting project that is suitable for beginners. Since it is knitted with needles that are rather big for the yarn weight it has a very soft texture.

As to the name, Perlmuster ("pearl pattern" or "pearl stitch") is the german name for seed stitch.


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Materials

• 50 grams of Light Fingering weight yarn - I used one skein of Schulana Colorelli (colorway 2) - here's a link to the yarn's Ravelry page.
• 5 mm circular needles (I used 40 cm long ones), but you can use longer ones if you use the Magic Loop method
• a 5 mm crochet hook if you use the crochet CO (or - if you want to do another CO method a 6 mm or 7 mm knitting needle for a stretchy CO).
• two stitch markers - one different from the other
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques and Abbreviations

• Seed stitch: basically you just switch between one knit stitch and one purl stitch, in the next row, you do a purl stitch over the stitch that appears as a knit stitch in the row below and a knit stitch on the top of last row's purl stitch - here's a YouTube video by Studio Knit that shows how to do seed stitch.
• k2tog: knit 2 sts together
• p2tog: purl 2 sts together

I wanted to have very stretchy edges, that meant using CO and BO methods that are quite stretchy. I used the methods listed below. Alternatively, you can use bigger size needles for the CO and BO row.

• Crochet Cast On - a very stretchy CO method, basically you do a single crochet over your knitting needle. Here's a YouTube video by Pleasant Seas that shows the crochet cast on. 
• Stretchy Bind-Off - here's a YouTube video by Very Pink Knits that shows one method to do a stretchy bind-off.

Size and Gauge
In pattern (seed stitch) and blocked 8 stitches gave about 5 cm in width and 13 rounds 5 cm in height.
The finished cowl is 36 cm high and has a circumference of 92 cm on the bottom edge and 70 cm on the top edge.

Construction
The cowl is knitted in the round and all in seed stitch. It is started at the lower edge and decreased towards the top. Since it's seed stitch all decreases have to be done in pairs - in order to stay in pattern.

Instructions

CO141 sts and join in round - be careful not to twist the stitches and place a stitch marker (the "end-of-round marker)
Round 1: p1, * k1, p1 repeat from * until end of round
Round 2: k1, * p1, k1 repeat from * until end of round
Repeat rounds 1 and 2 six more times

Round 15: p2tog, k2tog, * p1, k1 repeat from * 10 times, place 2nd marker (called "moving marker"),  *p1, k1 repeat from * until end of round
Round 16: k1, * p1, k1 repeat from * until end of round
Round 17: p1, * k1, p1 repeat from * until end of round
Round 18: k1, * p1, k1 repeat from * until end of round
Repeat round 13 and 14 twice more (i.e. you've knitted a total of 22 rounds)

Round 23: * p1, k1 repeat from * until you reach the moving marker, remove marker, p2tog, k2tog, * p1, k1 repeat from * 10 times, replace moving marker, *p1, k1 repeat from * until end of round
Round 24: k1, * p1, k1 repeat from * until end of round
Round 25: p1, * k1, p1 repeat from * until end of round
Round 26: k1, * p1, k1 repeat from * until end of round
Repeat round 25 and 26 twice more  (i.e. you've knitted a total of 30 rounds)

Repeat rounds 23 to 30 eight more times, i.e. you've knitted 10 rounds with decreases and a total of 94 rounds.
Round 95 = Round 1
Round 96 = Round 2
Repeat rounds 95 and 96 once more - or until there are about 5 meters of yarn left over.

Bind off loosely in pattern.

Weave in ends and block gently.