Usselby Hat and Cowl

This cowl and hat are knitted using the mosaic technique. Mosaic knitting is very easy and yet can produce extremely complex patterns. It is worked by knitting and slipping (purl wise) stitches on a right-side row and then on the wrong side by knitting again those stitches that have been knit on the previous row, and slipping the stitches that were again slipped on the previous row. Of course, when knitting in the round, as for the hat, there is only “right side” rows. Mosaic knitting can produce work that looks very similar to two-colour intarsia but most people seem to find the joy of mosaic working is that you only work in one colour at a time and do not end up with long “floats” at the back of the work. You change colour every two rows and the stitches that have been knit in the first colour then become the ones that you would then slip in the next two rows.

The mosaic pattern in this design is a simple, repeated, shadow pattern worked over 32 rows and three repeats. The hat again utilise the shadow pattern but only working the pattern once. The rest of the hat uses a very simple k1,sl1, pattern until shaping where it is continued in garter stitch in one colour only. Both written and chart instructions are given.