This is my first test for the very talented Anna Johanna of Finland. She’s gone the extra mile to please everyone with both charted and written instructions.

Cowl is knit from the bottom up, but can obviously be worn either way. We alternate using two different skeins of gradient yarn. So there’s the color surprise element that makes knitting this extra interesting. And you won’t get bored because the stitch patterns change throughout.

I’m knitting this as a gift for my sweet next door neighbor. (I’m modeling in some of the pictures at left since this is a requirement of test knitting. The designers require photos prior to the pattern publish date.) I used two different gradient colorways. This yarn varies in thickness from lace weight to bulky. Overall, I would classify this as a sport weight. There are far more lightweight sections of the yarn than heavier weight. I’m finding that this yarn is not particularly soft, but it’s quite comfortable to wear near the skin. It’s a very rustic looking yarn. I chose it for the short color transitions which work better than gradients with long color transitions in this type of garment.

I started out with two 96-gram balls of yarn. I ended up using only 60% of the yarn, so I have enough left to knit a hat or gloves. This yarn was given to me by a woman who could no longer knit. At first I thought it was Noro, but I’m not sure. It might be Noro Taiyo Sock which does come in 100-gram balls. It certainly has pretty colors, and it’s definitely all natural fibers. If my yarn is Noro Taiyo Sock, that means that I used no more than 200 yards of each color.

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