Celeriac Cowl in Rowan Fine Lace - ZB298-00013-FR - Downloadable PDF

Celeriac Cowl in Rowan Fine Lace by Lisa Richardson – Knitting Pattern Summary

About This Pattern

The Celeriac Cowl is an elegant, lace-weight knitted cowl designed by Lisa Richardson and published by Rowan. Available as a downloadable PDF (reference ZB298-00013-FR), this pattern is rated intermediate in difficulty, making it a rewarding project for knitters who are comfortable with lace techniques and shaping. The cowl is photographed in Antique 921, a beautifully muted, vintage-inspired colourway that showcases the delicate texture of the lace fabric to stunning effect.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a single knitted cowl — a closed-loop neckwarmer worn around the throat and shoulders. The Celeriac Cowl features an intricate lace panel design worked in a fine, delicate yarn, creating a lightweight yet warm accessory with beautiful drape and openwork detailing. The name "Celeriac" is evocative of the organic, textural quality of the lace stitch pattern, which mimics the complex, knobbly surface of the vegetable.

Yarn and Materials

• Yarn: Rowan Fine Lace — a lace weight yarn, used in a quantity of 3 x 50g balls
• Colourway shown: Antique 921
• Needles: A pair of 3¼mm knitting needles
• Additional materials: A length of smooth waste yarn in the same weight as the main yarn, used for the provisional cast-on and the first three rows of the project

Rowan Fine Lace is a luxuriously fine yarn ideally suited to delicate lace knitting. Its smooth, consistent twist allows stitch definition to shine through complex lace patterns, and its lightweight nature gives finished lace garments and accessories an airy, refined quality. Using a 3¼mm needle with a lace weight yarn creates a fabric that is open and drapey, perfect for a cowl intended to sit gracefully around the neck.

Techniques Used

• Provisional cast-on: The pattern begins with a provisional cast-on worked using a smooth waste yarn of matching weight. This temporary cast-on allows the live stitches to be retrieved later, which is a hallmark of projects that require a seamless or grafted join at the end.
• Lace knitting: The central body of the cowl is worked in a lace stitch pattern (referred to in the pattern as point fantaisie), which involves a combination of yarn-overs and decreases to create the characteristic openwork fabric.
• Shaping with decreases: The pattern incorporates multiple decrease methods to shape the cowl and define the lace motifs. These are worked at precise intervals across specific rows.
• Working in the round or flat: The pattern is worked flat on a pair of needles, with right-side and wrong-side rows clearly defined.

Stitches and Stitch Techniques

• Knit stitch (m end / tricot en maille endroit): Standard knit stitches form the foundation of the right-side rows throughout the pattern.
• Purl stitch (m env / tricot en maille envers): Wrong-side rows are worked entirely in purl, creating a smooth reverse stocking stitch ground for the lace pattern to sit against.
• Yarn-over (jeté): Yarn-overs are used extensively to create the open, decorative holes characteristic of lace knitting. In this pattern, sequences such as (1 m end, 1 jeté) 5 fois et 1 m end — meaning knit one, yarn over, repeated five times — are worked into a single stitch to create dramatic fan-like increases that form the lace motif.
• K2tog (2 m end ens — deux mailles endroit ensemble): A standard right-leaning decrease, knitting two stitches together as one. Used