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The Consilience Cowl is a beautiful free design by knitwear artist Hunter Hammersen. I first found her on Instagram months ago and admired her marvelous photography and colour selections. Hunter tends to post several photos of each project, which gives us plenty of views of her gorgeous work. Knitting patterns never seem to show enough photos and angles of a project. I prefer to see many shots of a finished project before committing to a design.
The Consilience Cowl is a satisfying and amusing knit. I admit the pattern confused me at first, as there was no recommend needle size or yarn weight. Hunter provides the gauge and allows you to determine which yarn and needles you need. Since this is not traditional for a knitting pattern, I had anxiety at the thought of figuring it out on my own. However, it turned out to be very easy once I opened my mind and got to work.
In my opinion, this cowl works best with a beautiful tonal yarn with a bit of shine and drape to it. The Valentina Colour Works Merino DK in Zinfandel, a rich dark red, was my first and only choice for this cowl. I’m so pleased with the result.
In most interviews with knitwear designers, one question always relates to their favourite wool. I used to think was an impossible question. Now, I can confidently say that Valentina Colour Works is one of my favourite yarns of all time. Meinhilde and I make a point to visit Mouline Yarns on our annual trip to Montreal (it’s their house dyed yarn). The colours all always intense and bold, which are perfect for an accessory project like this cowl.
I used is a 60cm (24 inch) circular needle, size 4.5 mm (US 7).
Hunter’s free pattern, published by Pantsville Press, uses a series of four lace charts to build the cowl. There are two versions available for the Consilience Cowl, which relate the the length of the cowl, and then different sizes depending on how snug you like your cowls. This one is large in length and a medium snugness. I still have a very small amount of wool left, perfect for mending should there ever be a need.
Very pretty look. I love the cooler weather of fall since I can wear scarfs and cowls. Happy Fall, Kippi