Today is the turn of the Websley Cowl, a lovely light and airy lacy cowl that is cool to knit but warm to wear.
The Websley Cowl combines striking lace patterns that create a scalloped edge as they work on the bias, and a contrast I-cord on both edges to perfectly accentuate this shaping. The lace pattern itself is quick and easy to memorise and so deceptively easy that it makes a surprisingly quick knit; aided by working a fine yarn on 3.5mm (US4) needles.
I’ve really been enjoying using patterns that work of on the bias work for cowls. Its such and easy and effective way to so add visual interest. The Verna Cowl also works with a biasing fabric although in that case it is worked with textured rather than lace stitches. In both cases it creates a lovely swirling or circling pattern.
My original version of Websley was knitted as a double wrap cowl but when I returned to the pattern recently I thought how nicely it would work as a deeper single wrap version too, so I worked up a second sample. It folds up nice and small and would be the perfect thing to pop in your bag if you’re not sure if you’ll need and extra layer or not. So now there are two versions to choose from.
The additional wrap on the double wrap version, and the additional height of the single wrap version, allows the light airy fabric to be not only incredibly wearable, but also surprisingly warm.
My samples are knitted in Susan Crawford Fenella a 100% British wool yarn comprising 75% Exmoor Mule, 25% Bluefaced Leicester and 129 metres/141 yards per 25g skein.
This yarn is a firm favourite which I’ve designed with before in my Clemmie Drape, Heywood Hill shawl, Alconleigh hat and gauntlets and Anthriscus Shawl. I’ve also knitted (and steeked) my Yule and Vaila cardigans from Fenella and they are still firm favourites and in regular rotation when it’s a bit cooler.
My previous designs and cardigans were both made with the first iteration of Fenella which was commercially dyed, but now all Susan’s yarns are hand dyed by Charlie at their Lake District yarn studio, Assa Marra, and these samples are made with hand dyed yarn.
The double wrap cowl is worked up with one of my favourite colours in this yarn, ‘Verdigris’ which I’ve paired with Melancholy, a colour so far from my usual wheelhouse, but together I think they work just wonderfully.
The single wrap cowl is worked in Rannoch as the main colour, such a beautiful rich orange, and I was going to pair it will Yule grey but then I found a little nub of Verdigris and decided I’d go with that instead and save the larger quantity of grey for something else. There was something about the richness of the Verdigris that could carry its own with the vibrancy of the Rannoch.
The Double Wrap cowl uses 2 x 25g of Verdigris and 2 x 25g of Melancholy, while the Single Wrap uses 2 x 25g of Rannoch and 1 x 25g of Verdigris, although a 10g left over would be plenty.
If you were looking to substitute the yarn or use something from your stash; Fenella is a lightly plied 2 ply yarn of 516m per 100g, so something along those lines would work well.
The pattern is available from my usual outlets; Ravelry, Payhip and LoveCrafts and on Ravelry and Payhip you can use the coupon code ‘Coppice’ for a 1€ discount until the end of the month*.
The last thing to share with you is the is my choice of name. The cowl is named for Websley Woods in Dorset close to where I grew up. The coppiced woods and terraced glades were perfect for exploring as a child, and for learning the names of a wide range of trees, flowers and plants, birds and fungi.
I have really strong memories of walking in these woods as a child, including with my grandmother when I was really quite small. We were picking primroses when a bull appeared and we had to make a strategic retreat. It’s perhaps not surprising I remember that occasion.
Once I was a little older I was able to go here with friends, again primroses, bluebells or cowslips would have featured, and blackberries or mushrooms later in the year. These old coppiced woodlands are so rich in biodiversity. An open canopy allows so many plants, lichens, mosses etc. to grow on the forest floor and for them to be carpeted or lined with wildflowers at different times of the year. A range of trees also play host to a range of different birds, those that feed widely but also those who are specific to a particular species.
As a child, curiosity often brings you into much closer contact with nature, leaning in to look closer, touching the different textures and sometimes even dismantling a plant to understand its structure and the sheer magic of it. Of course, no walk in the woods is ever complete without a moment to lie down on your back and look up to the sky through leaves.
These experiences inspired my love of nature, and of losing myself in its shapes and patterns. The organic leaflike lace pattern I chose for Websley and the way it biases so the patterns travels around the cowl reminded me of being encircled in this woodland environment.
I hope you like the new pattern and even more so that you have a place that fills your soul like being in nature fills mine. Until next time,
Happy Knitting,
Tess
*Please note: It can take a while for LoveCrafts to publish the pattern after it has been uploaded and I can’t offer introductory discounts there either I’m afraid.
