Triple Strand Cowl - Free Knitting Pattern For Women in Valley Yarns Hawley by Valley Yarns

Triple Strand Cowl – Free Knitting Pattern for Women by Brigitte Reydams in Valley Yarns Hawley

The Triple Strand Cowl is a free downloadable knitting pattern designed by Brigitte Reydams and worked in Valley Yarns Hawley, a luxuriously soft yarn blending 50% cotton, 30% silk, and 20% nylon. This pattern produces a generously sized, cozy cowl with a finished circumference of 35 inches and a height of 16 inches — large enough to wear looped once as a dramatic statement piece or pulled up over the chin for extra warmth. The defining construction technique is holding three strands of yarn together throughout, which creates a thick, squishy fabric with beautiful drape and a wonderfully quick knit-up time.

What Is Being Made

This pattern creates a women's circular cowl — a seamless tube of knitted fabric worn around the neck and shoulders. Unlike a traditional scarf, a cowl has no loose ends and wraps snugly, making it both practical and elegant. The Triple Strand Cowl is particularly notable for its substantial weight and softness, achieved by combining three individual strands of the DK-weight Valley Yarns Hawley into a single working strand. The sample shown is knitted in the colorway Peony, a warm and feminine shade that complements the silk-kissed sheen of the yarn.

Techniques Used

• Worked in the round: The cowl is knitted as a seamless tube using circular needles, eliminating the need for any seaming. Knitters cast on and join to work continuously in rounds, which is ideal for ribbing patterns that need to flow uninterrupted around the circumference.
• Holding multiple strands together: All three strands of Valley Yarns Hawley are held together and treated as a single working yarn throughout the entire project. This technique dramatically increases the effective yarn weight, speeds up the knitting process, and creates a dense, plush fabric with excellent structure.
• Staggered ball changes: The pattern notes recommend changing one ball at a time with a few inches worked between each change, making it easier to weave in ends on the finished piece and keeping the fabric looking tidy.

Stitches Used

• Knit 4, Purl 4 Ribbing: The entire cowl is worked in a simple knit 4, purl 4 rib repeat. This classic ribbing stitch pattern creates vertical columns of alternating knit and purl stitches, giving the fabric excellent elasticity and a visually interesting texture. Because the cast-on number is 71 stitches — not a perfect multiple of 8 — the ribbing wraps around in a continuous spiral, meaning the beginning of the round is not marked and the pattern flows naturally without a visible seam or jog.
• Cast on and join in the round: Knitters cast on 71 stitches and join carefully to avoid twisting before beginning the ribbing pattern.

Materials

• Yarn: Valley Yarns Hawley — a DK-weight yarn with a fiber content of 50% cotton, 30% silk, and 20% nylon, available in 50g skeins with approximately 135 yards each. The pattern requires 6 skeins in total. The cotton provides breathability and structure, the silk adds a subtle luster and incredible softness against the skin, and the nylon contributes durability and stitch definition.
• Needles: US size 13 (9.00mm) 32-inch circular needles, or the size needed to achieve gauge. The large needle size, combined with the triple-strand technique, allows the project to work up very quickly.
• Gauge: 9 stitches = 4 inches in knit 4/purl 4 ribbing with 3 strands held together.

Skill Level and Accessibility

Rated as a beginner pattern, the Triple Strand Cowl is an excellent project for newer knitters who are comfortable with basic knit and purl stitches and have tried knitting in the round. The