Doodle Deck Cowl Class (Advanced - Knitting)

Let your creative spirit run free and build the colourwork accessory of your dreams with our Doodle Cowl class! Doodle patterns use mix-and-match charts to enable the knitter to choose the construction, the motifs, and the order of knitting the charts! Whether you are looking to eke out one last early-spring knit before the sun comes out or are just looking to challenge yourself with a new skill, this class is for you. In this class we’ll take your established knitting skills to the next level as we learn how to juggle multiple strands of yarn.  You will use the doodle patterns to make a lovely colourworked cowl.

Required Skills:

• Casting on, binding off, weaving in ends
• Knitting, purling, switching between knits and purls (aka ribbing or seed stitch, etc.)
• Comfortable knitting in the round on a circular needle (aka can put down and pick up project without reversing direction)

You will learn about:

• how to choose colours for vibrant stranded knitting
• colour dominance in stranded knitting
• how to hold your yarn for stranded knitting (throwing, continental, and two-handed)
• how to catch your floats
• fixing basic stranded colourwork mistakes, adding a lifeline
• how to read a colourwork chart
• wet blocking

 You will need:

• A doodle deck of your choosing
• Yarn:
• 300-500 yds/m total of Sport, DK, or light worsted weight wool yarn, in a variety of colours, wound and ready to knit before class
• This is a great way to use up gradient kits, minis, and leftovers! You’ll need a minimum of 3-4 colours.
• We recommend that first-time colourwork knitters use wool/wool-blend yarns (both untreated or superwash are fine) for ease of learning. Leave that pure silk at home!
• We recommend sticking with either all untreated or all superwash wool for this project, so that your yarns will wash and wear similarly
• Our sample was knit in 5 colours of Istex Fjallalopi.
• Colour:
• We will talk about considerations when picking colours for stranded colourwork in the first lesson. In the meantime, if you’re feeling nervous about colour choice we recommend checking out this clever blog post from TinCanKnits (especially the part about value!)
• Needles:
• You will need two circular needles, either 16” (40cm) or 24” (60cm) in length, depending on the circumference of your desired cowl. Choose a circular needle that is shorter than the circumference of your cowl.
• The first needle (ribbing) should be on the low end of the recommended needle range for your yarn.
• For example, Istex Fjallalopi calls for 3-4mm. We used a 3.25mm needle on our sample.
• The second needle (body) should be one to two needle sizes larger, and on the high end of the recommended needle range for your yarn.
• For example, Istex Fjallalopi calls for 3-4mm. We used a 3.75mm needle on our sample.
• Notions:
• At least one stitch marker that will sit comfortably on your needle (optional: extra markers in a different colour if you would like to use stitch markers to keep track of your pattern repeats)
• Darning needle

 A list of our class policies can be found here.
Minimum registration is 3. Maximum is 6.

This class is being taught by: Emily