Snowy Woods Cowl

Snowy Woods Cowl by Michele Bernstein

What Is Being Made

The Snowy Woods Cowl is an advanced knitting project inspired by Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." This is a circular cowl featuring textured tree motifs that face the knitter as you work. The design offers flexibility in finished length, allowing crafters to choose between two, three, or four repeats of the Snowy Woods pattern to customize their preferred cowl dimensions. The piece was originally released as part of a WoolGirl kit in 2014.

Knitting Techniques

This cowl is worked in the round, which provides ease when working the textured tree pattern elements. Working circularly ensures that the decorative trees always face the knitter throughout the construction process, making the stitch pattern intuitive to follow. The design accommodates various yarn weights and needle sizes, allowing knitters to choose needles that produce a pleasing fabric rather than adhering to strict gauge requirements.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns

The primary stitch used in this cowl is reverse stockinette stitch, which serves as the background for the textured tree motifs. The Snowy Woods pattern creates the dimensional tree design that forms the focal point of the cowl. The pattern repeat can be worked multiple times to achieve the desired cowl length.

Yarn and Materials

The Snowy Woods Cowl requires 180 to 360 yards of heavy worsted or Aran weight yarn, depending on the number of pattern repeats chosen. The pattern samples showcase Knitted Wit Aran Superwash Merino (100% Superwash Merino Wool; 180 yards per 100 grams) in Cedar and Snowy Woods colorways, as well as Oink Pigments DK (100% Superwash Merino Wool; 270 yards per 100 grams) in the Robert Frost colorway. Needles required are US 7 (4.5 mm) and US 9 (5.5 mm), with a working gauge of 17 stitches over 4 inches in reverse stockinette stitch on the larger needles when unblocked. The pattern notes that gauge is not critical for this project, encouraging knitters to select needles that produce their preferred fabric hand.