A Touch of Love Cowl

Love is in the air of Philadelphia!

I learned the significance of the LOVE sculpture in Philadelphia when I moved to the city in 2025. There is LOVE Park near the Philadelphia City Hall with the sculpture in the center, and the LOVE symbol can be seen everywhere in the city.

Philadelphia is known as “the City of Brotherly Love,” deriving from the Greek words philos (loving) and adelphos (brother). If you know me, you know that I LOVE languages and I even LOVE knitting them! So I decided to incorporate the LOVE characters into my design.

Shadow Knitting (also known as Illusion Knitting) is a technique using the textural characteristics of knits and purls to create a very subtle graphic motif. The motif can only be seen on a flat surface from certain angles. Otherwise it’s just a striped fabric. But once you see it, you won’t be able to unsee it!

Every knitted item is a labor of LOVE, but why not add a little more LOVE to it… you know, just a touch?

SKILL LEVEL

Advanced beginner to Intermediate

SKILLS NEEDED

Knit, purl, provisional cast on, 3-needle bind off

SIZES

One Size

FINISHED MEASUREMENTS

Approx. 7¼” high x 28” around (18.5cm x 70cm)

YARN

Fingering-weight yarn in 2 contrasting colors

Sample shown in

Kelbourne Woolens Camper (100% wool, 50g / 1¾ oz, 183m / 200 yards) in 026 Charcoal Heather (MC) and 614 Scarlet Heather (CC), or 450 Sky Heather (MC) and 614 Scarlet Heather (CC)

Needles and Notions

US #1 / 2.25mm needles, or size to obtain gauge

Stitch markers, crochet hook for provisional cast on, tapestry needle and scissors

GAUGE

28 sts and 56 rows per 4” (10cm) in pattern after blocking

PATTERN NOTES

• This cowl is worked flat lengthwise with provisional cast on, and seamed at the end using 3-needle bind off.
• In Shadow Knitting, you combine stockinette stitch (knit on RS, purl on WS) and garter stitch (knit on RS, knit on WS) to create textural difference, and at the same time alternate MC and CC colors every other row to make stripes. The purl bumps of garter stitch create a ridge, which creates a shadow.
• In this pattern, you knit the entire row on each RS (odd-numbered) row. On the returning WS (even-numbered) row, you combine knit stitches and purl stitches following the chart.
• The LOVE motif is repeated four times, or until the desired length is achieved to wrap around your neck.
• At any point in the pattern, you may switch to repeating just Blank Rows (Rows 1 - 4 of the pattern) to make a plain striped cowl. For example, you can knit the LOVE motif only once, then you knit Blank Rows for the rest of the cowl.