Brake Cowl - A free knitting pattern

Firstly, Happy New Year!  Wonder how long after new year it is appropriate to say that?  The run up to Christmas was very busy with orders and the usual Christmas preparations and now I am slowly getting back to normal.

During the summer I knitted a simple lace cowl from Shetland jumper weight yarn, several people have asked me for the pattern so I thought I would write it here.  It is a horseshoe lace pattern repeated and knitted in the round (I used 3 wires) so it forms a tube.  During the summer months Joseph ran around the croft, and I had to follow him so decided to make something simple I could pick up and knit outside and didn't require too much brain power!  Our croft is called Brake, hence the name of the cowl.

A lot of the knitting was done sitting on this stone!

I have worn it a lot, it is cosy and easy to wear, there are no ends flapping about as would be with a scarf (particularly a problem when you live some where as windy as here!)

Brake Cowl

Wool: Jamieson's Spindrift (2ply jumper weight yarn) or Jamieson & Smith's 2 ply Jumper weight yarn; 3 x 25g balls. (I used Jamieson's Spindrift in Pistachio)

Recommended needle size: 3.25

Worked in the round.

Size: Approx 31cm x 43cm 

Tension: 2 patterns (20 stitches) = 8 cm (tension isn't hugely important as the exact size can vary but will be useful if you want to use different yarn).

Cast on 160 stitches using the cable cast on method (you can see a tutorial on how to do this on the knitty website) circular wires or 80 stitches onto two needles for working in the round with 3 needles.

Knit 1 row.

Row 1: (yo k3 s2kp k3 yo k1) repeat (16 times altogether)
Row 2: knit
Row 3: (k1 yo k2 s2kp k2 yo k2), repeat to the end of the row
Row 4: knit
Row 5: (k2 yo k1 s2kp k1 yo k3), repeat to the end of the row
Row 6: knit
Row 7: (k3 yo s2kp yo k4), repeat to the end of the row
Row 8: knit

Repeat these 8 rows 20 times until work measures approx 43 cm

Knit one row. Cast off using your preferred method. I used Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn cast off method as it gives a stretchy finish that looks similar to the cast on edge.  You can see a tutorial on how to do this on the Knitty website

To finish: Weave in any loose ends.  Wash in warm soapy water, rinse well and pin out to the required size or stretch on a jumper board. Make sure you stretch the peaks at the bottom and the peaks at the opposite part of the pattern at the top of the cowl by pinning them or using waste yarn if using a jumper board.

Abbreviations: k = knit; yo = yarn over; s2kp = slip 2 stitches, knit 1, pass the first 2 slipped stitches over.


Maybe its just my background in marine biology but I think the pattern is much more like a horseshoe crab than a horse shoe.

Happy Knitting!

You can buy jumper weight Shetland Yarn from Jamieson's of Shetland or from Jamieson and Smith