I was surprised when Jen told me she had never done Fair-Isle knitting before. I was surprised for two reasons: 1) Jen is always knitting or crocheting. Or spinning. She always has a variety of projects going on from lace to cables and more. With all that stitching, I couldn’t believe she’d never done colorwork like this. And 2), her knitting in this piece is gorgeous! It was hard to believe this was her first attempt at stranded knitting.
This is Jen’s version of the Templetop Cowl knit in Amphora, one of my favorite new yarns of ours. I really like the colors Jen chose for hers. That marsala red looks great on her. Jen kept her floats nice and even along the back of her work which can be the hardest thing to manage when venturing into Fair-Isle.
She told me the only modification she made in the pattern was to add one extra pattern repeat, so she cast on 162 stitches instead of 144. If you’re the kind of person who knows just what kind of circumference you like in a cowl, a pattern like this is very easy to adapt. At 144 stitches around, the original cowl measures 27 1/2″. The gauge is 5 1/4 stitches per inch. Jen knew that if she added one more pattern repeat which is 18 stitches, she’d be giving herself an extra 3 1/2″.
Even when adding in the extra pattern repeat, Jen still had plenty of yarn leftover. Amphora’s 100 gram ball clocks in at 306 yards; not shabby for a DK weight yarn! The reason for this is because Amphora is incredibly light and lofty. Brushed yarns are really trending this fall making Amphora a timely addition for us. I love haloed yarns in colorwork projects. They have a kind of romance to them. Have you fallen in love with Amphora yet?