Note: This pattern is for the fingering weight version of this cowl. There is also a DK/Light Worsted version. They may be purchased together for a discounted price in an eBook. The eBook also contains tips about knitting at different gauges and in different weight yarns. The suggested styling of this cowl, as shown in photos, is to fold the cowl in on itself, allowing for a customizable depth.

Description
How do you measure the distance between friends? One of the things I love most about knitting is the fiber arts community and our ability to connect locally, regionally, and internationally both in person and virtually. The 700 Fence Posts Cowl represents these connections, depicting distance and togetherness through stitches.

While working on the design, I thought about physical distance juxtaposed with interconnectedness. To represent these concepts, I chose a modular cowl construction that is first worked flat, then joined together in the middle, and finished flat. Where the cowl meets in the middle, there is one round of stranded colorwork knitting, a metaphor for coming together.

As I was designing, a song popped into my head. Meet In the Middle was a country hit from the early 1990s, the opening line of which is, “It was 700 fence posts, from your place to ours.” It is about two young kids falling in love who meet halfway “’neath that old Georgia pine.” Is there someone you miss being with in person and yet feel close to in your heart? If you enjoy knitting love into every stitch as I do, choose a fingering weight yarn pairing with special meaning to you – perhaps a souvenir skein from a memorable trip, fiber from your hometown, or a favorite color palette that you share with a dear friend. A wide variety of yarns will work well, from light fingering through sport weight.

In the song, as in life, the idea of meeting in the middle not only symbolizes the desire to get together physically with the ones we love, but also to find common ground with others when our viewpoints differ. May you see the ones you care about more often and cooperate with others more frequently. Knit kindly, live kindly!

Dimensions: Approximate circumference 26.5” (67.5 cm); approximate length 17.25” (44 cm).

Yarn and Yardage Requirements: Two contrasting colors of fingering weight yarn. Approximately 600 yards (548.5 meters) total. Main color uses slightly more yardage/meterage than contrast color.

Construction: The seamless cowl begins like a triangular shawl with a garter tab cast on. It is knit flat with increases along each edge and on both sides of a central spine. It is then joined in the round and worked even for a few inches with increases and decreases offsetting each other. The beginning of round marker is then moved, and a second triangular shawl shape is knit flat. The result is a seamless tube of knitting!

Gauge: Aim for a gauge of 22 sts x 36 rows in stockinette and 22 sts x 44 rows in garter stitch in 4” (10 cm) square after blocking. Additional stitch gauges in pattern. Cowl may also be worked at a looser gauge, which will require additional yardage; however, it should still be a comfortable “two skein project” for most fingering (and even sport) weight yarns.

Needle: US5, 24” (4.5 mm, 60 cm) circular; or whatever needle size meets gauge.

Notions: 4 stitch markers, BOR marker, tapestry needle, additional gauge needle for bind off.

This pattern has been professionally tech edited and tested.