Creel Cowl

The cowl is knit using one skein or less of each colour and is effective in colours with any amount of contrast, making it easy to choose colours that would go well together from your stash. The Creel Cowl is knit flat with edges neatly finished with a double knit selvedge worked as you go. At the end, a short seam turns the flat piece into a cowl!

A creel is a traditional a wicker basket that could be carried on the back and was used to hold the day's catch. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the fishing industry and in particular a boom in Herring exports, reshaped the fabric of the Scottish landscape by forging ties between remote villages and connecting them to the rest of the world. This presented an opportunity for many young, working class women who found work and freedom by gutting the fish and packing it into barrels of salt. With its bold herringbone pattern, Creel presented itself as the natural name for this pattern, re-establishing our connectedness as knitters; as long before we were sharing patterns on the internet, those hardworking women were spreading them beyond their local communities, as they knit while waiting for the catch to come in.

Our patterns are thoroughly checked and tested but occasionally errors do slip through. These are updated in the patterns as soon as possible, and we also issue periodic updates to clarify directions, extend size ranges, or add more inclusive pattern formats.

If it's been a while since you purchased this pattern please double check that your file names match the following before casting on:

Creel cowl v1.1

Updates are issued via email, please contact us if you can't find an update, or if you think you've found an error in the most up to date version of the pattern.