A friend kindly gifted me with 4 skeins of Noro Kureyon yarn this last Christmas, purchased in Japan, no less. I've never used Noro before, so I figured a cowl is a good place to start. This one only took 2 skeins, so I can repeat the process again and try a different pattern. I adapted a cable pattern that I found in one of those 365 knitting stitches a year calendars. I used a size 10.5 needle, so it's knit at a looser than the recommended gauge. My cowl ended up about 10 inches high and 22 inches in circumference. I find that to be a good size for a cozy cowl.
For those who are interested (and also to save the data for myself), here's the pattern. I'm only listing out the main 45 pattern stitches. The cowl includes 2 garter stitches at each edge, but I won't bother typing that out.
The main stitch pattern of 45 stitches:
Row 1: k
Row 2: p
Rows 3 and 4: stockinette
Row 5: *cable 10 front, k5, repeat from * twice
Rows 6: p
Rows 7 through 12: stockinette
Row 13: *k5, cable 10 back, repeat from * twice
Row 14: p
Rows 15 and 16: stockinette
Repeat the 16 rows 8 more times.
I used a provisional cast-on so for my last repeat set, I only did 15 rows and used the kitchener stitch to weave together the first and last rows, which creates the last 16th row.
If you don't bother with the provisional cast-on, just do all 16 rows for the last set, bind off, and sew the ends together.
