12 Weeks of Gifting — Week 8: Powderbowl Cowl
This week, I’m suggesting you knit the Powderbowl cowl for someone you love. It’s a quick knit, and it’s easy, but it’s so interesting! The slipped stitches form a pattern that is easy to memorize, but also kind of mesmerizing.
The cowl is knit in Jagger Spun Mousam Falls in Ecru, Admiral, and Powder Blue. In this size, it takes one skein of each color. Or if you want to create an infinity cowl, the pattern has instructions for that, too, and you’d just need a second skein of the background color.
If you prefer to stash dive, you’re looking for a nice worsted- to Aran-weight yarn in three solid or nearly-solid colors that contrast nicely with each other. Total yardage for original and (infinity) sizes is:
C1: 110 (240) yards
C2: 60 (130) yards
C3: 50 (110) yards
I want to tell you the story behind this picture. Last winter, we went skiing with our cousin and his awesome and lovely girlfriend, Samantha. This is her, modeling the Powderbowl cowl.
I’m pretty sure Samantha didn’t have any idea what I meant when I asked her if she would model a piece of knitwear for me, but she was fantastically game. For various reasons to do with how difficult it is to take photos/have photos taken of you on an actual ski slope, we decided to take these photos at the base of the mountain, in one area that had a decent amount of snow remaining from the last snowfall. This was not new snow, but it was in an area that had been protected from being walked on, so it was in pretty good condition. And since we were at the base of the mountain, it was warm enough that Samantha didn’t need to wear her coat, just some leggings, a sweatshirt, and the cowl.
We were having a nice time snapping lots of pictures, and eventually I asked her to take one step backwards or to the side (I don’t recall which). Remember how it was warm? And people hadn’t walked on the snow? Well, the place I asked her to move to was a nice patch of undisturbed snow that had melted through underneath. At that point Samantha took a very quick detour from “upright” to “butt in snow.” And this photo here happened the instant she landed, startled, with some parts of her becoming suddenly cold and damp. Her first instinct, recorded photographically, was to laugh.
Can you ask for a better sport?
That’s why I love this photo so much. Samantha’s eyes are crinkled up and her mouth is stretched wide in a true moment of laughter, not a pose for the camera. And she kept on laughing, even as I helped her up and we made our way back to the lodge to get her some some dry clothes and hot cocoa.
Maybe this cowl will be a holiday gift for someone who’s been as awesome to you as Samantha was to me that day. You can purchase the pattern on my Ravelry and Payhip shops, and save 20% this week with code POWDER20.
