Ski Trails was inspired by my love of skiing and the need for a neck warmer that keeps out the cold and wind during the cold, blustery Vermont winters. The crisscrossing of braided cables has always reminded me of groomed ski trails while the tight woven cable reminds me of skiing in the trees where tight turns are a must to avoid hitting a tree. I wanted a neck warmer with a nice, tight stitch pattern to make sure wind doesn’t get in but I added buttons on the side to make it easy to open up after a ski run in the woods. The top is knit on a smaller sized needle keep the area by your face nice and cozy and switched to a larger needle size for the second half of the pattern so that the neck warmer fits comfortably around your lower neck and fits underneath a coat that is zippered up tight. For simplicity, I used the natural gap that is created when knitting cable stitches for buttonholes. This is a quick knit that is pretty easy to memorize so it makes for a great pattern for holiday presents for anyone who lives in a cold climate!

You will probably just barely break into the 2nd skein of yarn for this neck warmer. If you are knitting more than one of this pattern in the same color, 3 skeins should be sufficient for two or three finished neck warmers.

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Height: 7.5 inches
Top Length: 18 inches
Bottom Length: 23 inches

notions required:
stitch markers
yarn needle
extra yarn in an appropriate gauge for sewing on the buttons
2 smaller buttons (approx. 0.5 inch diameter or 0.5 inches by 0.75 inches)
3 larger buttons (approx. 0.75 inch diameter or 0.75 inches by 1 inch)

GAUGE
14 sts/20 rows = 4” in stockinette stitch on smaller needles
18 sts/20 rows = 4” in Chunky Braid pattern on smaller needles