Knit, Breathe and Relax with Anfeald Cowl – a free knitting pattern

This week I’m happy to share with you a free pattern for my ‘Anfeald Cowl’, which is a really simple garter stitch cowl. Garter stitch is where you knit every stitch on every row – so it’s just the knit stitch repeated over and over again. It’s perfect if you’ve just learned how to knit and want to make something easy for yourself or a friend. ‘Anfeald’ uses up every bit of yarn, so there’s no waste whatsoever – perfect for my thrift knitting and crochet theme.

Garter stitch is really squishy so it creates a warm, dense fabric which is ideal for a cosy winter accessory.

Even if you’re a seasoned knitter, this cowl is the perfect project that you could use for relaxing and knitting, because it is repetitive and rhythmic, you can almost lose yourself in the stitches and empty your mind, which in turn can be great for stress relief. You could knit ‘Anfeald’ whilst watching you favourite programs because there is no real pattern to follow.

KNITTING TIP
Slip the first stitch (knitwise as if to knit – just insert needle as if to knit but then slide it to the opposite needle without knitting it). This creates a really neat edge to the knitting. 

If you’re new to knitting, you may find that the first stitch of each row seems a little loose and this will create a messy edge, so slipping the first stitch avoids this. Even if the pattern doesn’t tell you to slip the first stitch – you can just do this yourself. 

I used Drops Eskimo which is a chunky yarn. I bought my yarn from The Wool Warehouse who often have a sale on Drops yarn, which is great value for money.

I cast on 21 sts and knitted up 4 x 50g balls on 8mm needles, leaving enough to cast off and whip stitch the ends together. My rectangle measured 162cm which is long enough to wrap around your neck twice.

There are other options – if you only have 100g of chunky yarn you could knit a shorter cowl that just goes over your head and you could add a line of buttons for decoration. If you only have one 50g ball each of 2 colours you could work in stripes of 2 rows one colour/2 rows the second colour.

Endless possibilities really.

To substitute yarn, simply look at the ball band or yarn info on a website. You’re looking for the information on number of stitches and number of rows per 10cm. Also check the type of fibre that the yarn is. Use those 2 pieces of information to choose an alternative –  something that has the same number of stitches and rows per 10cm and a similar fibre content. Don’t be put off if you can’t find the recommended yarn or want to use your stash.

I’ve written a full blog post on substituting yarn here.

You can grab your free pattern here:

Copyright

Please read the copyright terms, which apply globally, before downloading your pattern:

This pattern revision is published under copyright to me ©Lynne Rowe 2024 and is for your own personal use only. Feel free to sell items made from this pattern for charity fundraising purposes, or to gift to family and friends. Selling small numbers for profit is only allowed with permission. Please email lynne@knitcrochetcreate.com for permission to sell in small numbers. By downloading or using this pattern, you agree to these terms. All rights reserved.

Anfeald Cowl

If you make your own Cowl I love to see it. so don’t forget to tag me if you share it on social media. I’m @thewoolnest on Facebook and the_woolnest on Instagram. You can also add you finished cowl to the project page on Ravelry here.

I hope you enjoy making your own Anfeald cowl – if you have any problems or questions you can contact me through my blog or leave a comment on the blog post.

Bye for now and see you next time.

Happy crafting, Lynne