Pattern Search

I was watching  a film yesterday and one of the characters was sporting a fantastic cowl. It struck me as being perfect Orkney wear and I should very much like something similar.

It was worn on top of a leather jacket and at first looked like a shawl or wide scarf wrapped around but I realised it had no tails. Later on she wore it pulled up over her head. It was of generous proportion, swooping down to bust level and draped over the head rather than being snug or tight. The yarn appeared to be quite bulky but soft and with plenty of drape – probably some kind of angora or cashmere blend. I imagine that the chest end was flared such that perhaps the whole garment might be described as chimney-shaped.

Think chain mail and King Richard’s Crusaders… childhood Ivanhoe (ooh, Roger Moore, remember?) but more room and drape and in wool not steel 🙂

Question is – do you know of such a pattern? I probably ought to just go ahead and wing it but I’d like some stitch counts, dimensions and shaping intervals to form a ball park… I have an over-large scarf I can frog and repurpose…

Harmonia might prove a good starting point (see top photo on the linked page – about right in length but insufficient in roominess and drape) but I don’t like the fussiness/bulk caused by the overlap in the mobius ring (see second photo down).

Overall, I am seeking something that looks rich and decadent, feels fabulously warm and snuggly but is over all, eminently practical.

I’m waiting in for my pet goodies to be collected. While I wait I am looking at this season’s Twist Collective. There’s not much in it this time for me and I find that disappointing as most editions are stuffed full of things I would like to make. I do like:

• Vinca, but not in an I-want-to-make-it kind of way
• Cappadocia – would be fab in Jitterbug if my ship ever comes in
• Kizzlekazzle looks different, interesting and cosy and I wonder if it might convert to my desired cowl
• Chroming is beautifully simple and simply beautiful
• Tainia looks like the kind of sock to hold my interest but really, I have hundreds of sock patterns awaiting my attention already. I doubt I like it enough to fork out the $6 price at this stage of my knitting career
• Ripplerock really grabs my attention but I am supposed to be enforcing a resistance to new shawl patterns. It is lovely though and looks sensibly sized and properly warm. It’s a wear-at-home shawl or a keep-snug-on-the-boat shawl and would be used, unlike a lacy, airy fun-to-knit but disastrous-with-cats-and-wherever-would-I-wear-it-to kind of shawl. I may succumb if I have a yarn in my stash begging to be made into a Ripplerock. If not, I’m not shopping

Gosh, it’s almost dark – my stuff is not yet collected and I have yet to get my knitting out today. Warriston is in danger – I must crack on.