Free Knitting Pattern: Snow Days Cowl

          I'm in the throes of writing pages and pages of reflections about my teaching along with compiling video clips, documents that serve as "evidence" of professional growth, and student work samples to submit to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in order to renew my National Board Certification.  Let's just say that the 10 or 12 hours I spent this past weekend solving a technical problem related to video submission instructions specifying that videos must be time and date stamped haven't aroused an eagerness in me to sit down in front of the computer during my spare time.  I did, however, write a long diatribe about my computer woes as a form of therapy on Sunday afternoon, but have decided to spare anyone who happens upon this blog the details of the whole mess.  Let's just say that it involved purchasing Chinese software replete with awkwardly written instructions and hieroglyphic commands, calling a techie relative several times who ultimately solved my deciphering difficulties, finally extracting time and date data from a series of videos (this process took roughly six hours), and then returning to my classroom on Monday and noticing one sentence in small print towards the end of the the vast tome of instructions I'd printed out that said that I didn't have to time and date stamp my video if I had a school administrator sign a one-page document found in a series of forms at the end of instructions.  Ugh!

          Anyway, this seems like a good week to avoid long periods of exposure to technology. Short and sweet is definitely appealing right now.  I'm including some simple instructions below to make the cowl shown here.  (I'll post a PDF pattern soon--maybe when I've submitted my Board Renewal stuff.)  A month or so ago, my friend Lauren asked me to make her a cowl and some cuffs.  The cuffs are still on the needles, but the cowl was easily and quickly knit up.  It's a perfect project to do in a couple of snow days spent home from work or school--if one has some time free from writing volumes about the effect of one's professional growth experiences on student learning!  The yarn is Lion Brand Amazing, a worsted weight, and this quick project only takes one skein.  I'm not certain what colorway I used here, but you can go to Lion Brand to check out color options.  

Snow Days Cowl

Materials:  One skein Lion Brand Amazing Yarn, 1.75 ounce, 50 grams, 147 yards, 135 meters; waste yarn for provisional cast on

Tools:  Size 8 US needles; Size J crochet hook

Gauge:  4 stitches per inch in pattern

Instructions:

Using waste yarn and provisional cast-on method, cast on 30 stitches.

Row 1:  K2; *K1, P1; rep from * to 2 stitches before end of row; K2.

Row 2:  P2; *P1, K1; rep from * to 2 stitches before end of row; K2.

Repeat these two rows until cowl is 26 inches long.

Remove provisional cast on and place stitches on size 8 needle

Use a 3-needle bind off to join live stitches on both ends.  Sew in yarn tails.  Block.  

I finally finished this Garter Stitch shawl, a project which uses merely one skein of Noro sock yarn.  Like the cowl, this shawl will be given away to a dear friend.  I hope she likes the vibrant colors.