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Cowlin' Around

Debbie Christensen cowl finished project flannel tuturial wool

A few years ago for Christmas I made my boyfriend a scarf. A lot of work went into this scarf. I bought a drop spindle to spin wool roving into yarn, but hadn't quite picked up on the technique, and so my yarn came out very thick.

I collected a sackful of acorns off the sidewalk and received a fair amount of strange looks, smashed them with a hammer and tried not to be too grossed out by the wormy ones.They soaked in water for a few days with some rusty thing and I dyed the yarn to what I hoped to be a charcoal gray, but turned out to be ever-so-slightly gray. I knitted the yarn into a scarf, but it had come out so thick that there was no way I would have enough yarn to make a decent scarf.

So I unraveled it and wove it (because I have a loom!), which helped with the length a little. But a 3 foot scarf really isn't that substantial, and not long enough to wrap around a neck really. I wasn't super happy with it, but Josh liked it and it was his only scarf, so that was good enough. I've wanted to make a better one, but I have a love/hate relationship with knitting.

Recently, though, he asked if I could make him a cowl. And here it is!

wool flannel cowl

This is not my boyfriend, this is Poppy modeling the Deer & Doe Lupin Jacket. She wear the cowl well though!

This is high on my list of the easiest things I've ever made. I love the new Merchant & Mills wools (and so did Josh). The wool I picked for this, called Flat Cap, is a little scratchy so I backed it with a Robert Kaufman flannel with a cool herringbone weave. The flannel is narrower than the wool, at 44", so that became the length of the cowl.

wool flannel cowl

Here's a rundown of what I did, if you want to make yourself.

- You'll need 1/4 yard each of wool and flannel. Cut the pieces down, if necessary, to be 44" long.

- With right sides together, sew the rectangles together using a 1/2" seam allowance. Be sure to leave an opening to turn the cowl right side out, which you will sew up by hand.

- Sew a buttonhole at one corner of the rectangle. I made mine more fun by making it diagonal!

- Wrap it loosely around your neck to see where the buttonhole hits to give you an idea of button placement. If you don't feel like doing that, I sewed my button 1 1/2" from the top edge (same edge as the buttonhole), and 19" in from the short edge opposite the buttonhole.

wool flannel cowl

Stay warm!

wool flannel cowl

(This is the Colette Albion Coat in a super warm wool meltonwool melton. You can read about it here)



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  • Kelly on

    Thank you so much for the cowl instructions and inspiration. Your mate is one lucky guy.


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