Tourmaline Cowl in Valley Yarns Northampton - 914 - Downloadable PDF

Tourmaline Cowl in Valley Yarns Northampton – Pattern #914

The Tourmaline Cowl, pattern #914 designed by Julie Turjoman, is a stunning long double-wrap cowl knitted in a single flat piece and finished with a clever twist-and-seam construction. The result is a looped, infinity-style cowl that wraps twice around the neck for cozy, layered warmth. With its one-size-fits-all dimensions of approximately 12 inches wide by 60 inches long, this cowl is a satisfying and achievable project for beginner to intermediate knitters who want to explore both lace and colorwork techniques in a single design.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a long double-wrap cowl that, once completed, is twisted and seamed at its short ends to form a continuous loop. The finished piece features two distinct textural halves — one worked in a solid-color lace pattern and the other in a slip-stitch colorwork pattern — creating a beautifully complementary contrast of texture and color. The long side selvage edges are worked in garter stitch throughout, providing a neat, stable border on both sides of the piece.

Construction and Techniques

The Tourmaline Cowl is worked flat in one long piece, making it an excellent introduction to combining multiple stitch patterns within a single project. Key techniques used in this pattern include:

• Lace knitting – One half of the cowl features a detailed lace pattern worked over right-side rows, with wrong-side rows purled. The lace section incorporates yarnover increases and paired decreases to create an open, decorative fabric.
• Slip-stitch colorwork – The second half of the cowl uses a Tweed stitch pattern worked with two coordinating colors, creating the appearance of colorwork without ever knitting with two strands simultaneously. This makes it highly accessible for knitters new to working with multiple colors.
• Seamed construction – Once the full length is knitted, the piece is twisted and the short ends are seamed together using a tapestry needle, forming the characteristic double-wrap loop shape.
• Garter stitch selvages – Running along both long edges, garter stitch borders keep the fabric from curling and add a polished finish.

Stitches Used

This pattern draws on a range of knitting stitches and techniques that give the cowl its rich, textured appearance:

• Knit and purl stitches – The foundational stitches used throughout both halves of the cowl.
• Yarnover (yo) – Used in the lace section to create decorative eyelets and to maintain stitch count after decreases.
• K2tog (knit two together) – A right-leaning decrease used in the lace pattern.
• Ssk (slip, slip, knit) – A left-leaning decrease that pairs with K2tog to create symmetrical lace shaping.
• S2kp (slip 2 together knitwise, knit 1, pass 2 slipped stitches over) – A centered double decrease used in the lace section to reduce two stitches at once while keeping the pattern balanced.
• Slip stitch (sl wyib) – Used in the Tweed stitch colorwork section, where stitches are slipped with yarn in back to carry color across rows without stranding.
• Garter stitch – Worked along both selvage edges throughout the entire piece.

Materials

The Tourmaline Cowl is knitted in Valley Yarns Northampton, a 100% wool worsted weight yarn available in 100g/247-yard skeins. The pattern calls for two colors used across the two textural sections of the cowl:

• Color A: 1 skein of Valley Yarns Northampton in 26 Raspberry Heather
• Color B: 2 skeins of Valley Yarns Northampton in 20 Eggplant

The recommended needle size is US 7 (4.50 mm), or the size needed