Ceylon Two-Colour Slipped Stitch Cowl in SweetGeorgia Superwash Sport - Downloadable PDF

Ceylon Two-Colour Slipped Stitch Cowl by Tabetha Hedrick – Pattern Summary

The Ceylon Two-Colour Slipped Stitch Cowl is a knitting pattern designed by Tabetha Hedrick and published by SweetGeorgia Yarns. Available as a downloadable PDF, this pattern produces a long, chic infinity scarf — a seamless, oversized cowl with a generous 13¾ inches (35 cm) width and a sweeping 96-inch (244 cm) seamed circumference. The result is a luxuriously drapey, wearable accessory that can be looped multiple times around the neck for layered warmth and style.

Design Overview

The cowl takes its name from its signature Ceylon mosaic stitch pattern, which creates the illusion of intricate colourwork through deceptively simple construction. The interplay of two carefully chosen tones — Apricot (Main Colour) and West Wind (Contrast Colour) — produces soft, muted, harmonious colour blending that is characteristic of SweetGeorgia's palette philosophy. The finished fabric has an alluring, almost printed quality that belies just how accessible the technique truly is.

Techniques and Construction

This pattern is rated Easy in skill level, making it an ideal introduction to two-colour knitting for adventurous beginners or a satisfying, meditative project for more experienced knitters. The construction relies on two foundational techniques:

• Slipped stitches (mosaic knitting): Rather than carrying two yarns simultaneously across a row as in traditional stranded colourwork, mosaic knitting uses only one colour per row. Stitches from the previous colour are simply slipped without being worked, allowing them to show through and create the geometric pattern. This makes the technique far more approachable than Fair Isle or intarsia methods.
• Garter stitch: The background and structural fabric of the cowl is built on garter stitch — knitting every row — which provides a firm, stable, slightly ridged texture that complements the slipped stitch motifs beautifully and helps the fabric lie flat without curling.

Together, these two techniques produce a Ceylon pattern that appears complex and graphic but requires only knit stitches and yarn slipping — no purling within the pattern rows is necessary. This is one of the great joys of mosaic knitting: maximum visual impact with minimal technical complexity.

Stitches Used

• Knit (K) — the sole stitch type used throughout the pattern rows
• Slipped stitches — the defining technique of the Ceylon mosaic design, worked by passing stitches from the needle without knitting them
• Garter stitch — formed by knitting every row, creating the characteristic horizontal ridged fabric
• Bind off (BO) — used to finish and seam the cowl into its infinity loop shape
• Cast on (CO) — to begin the work

Materials – Yarn

The pattern calls for 2 skeins of SweetGeorgia Yarns Superwash Sport, one skein in each of the two colourways used:

• Apricot — designated as the Main Colour (MC)
• West Wind — designated as the Contrast Colour (CC)

SweetGeorgia Superwash Sport is a 100% superwash merino wool yarn, with each skein containing 328 yards (300 m) and weighing 3.5 oz (100 g). The superwash treatment means the finished cowl can be machine washed with care, adding practicality to its beauty. The sport weight yarn produces a fabric that is lightweight yet warm, with excellent stitch definition that allows the mosaic pattern to read clearly and crisp.

Materials – Needles and Notions

• Circular needle: US Size 5 / 3.75 mm, 24 inches (60 cm) long — the circular format accommodates the wide cast-on and allows the long fabric to