Colour Your Mind Cowl

I make use of the Pay What You Can model, so the pattern is set as a free download. However, if you feel that the pattern is worth more to you, you can adjust the price as you desire. 

This crochet cowl was made using Karoo Moon Handspun. You can use any handspun yarn where the recommended hook size is 7mm.

The body of the cowl makes use of a split single crochet stitch, which makes it look like knitwear but it isn’t. I promise!

It’s a lovely fast piece to crochet and is sure to keep you warm during the winter months.

How did this design come about?
A few months ago one of my friends, who aslo happens to have been a fantastic crochet designer, succumbed to her battle with depression. Many of you will know that I am talking about Marinke (Wink) Slump of a creative beeing. She was one of my earliest Instagram followers and we became quite good friends, even though it was mainly via social media and email. We did meet in 2012 in Bremen, when I was on vacation in Germany. She was so wonderful!
A true inspiration and a lovely person, whether online or in real life.
Her death was a huge shock to me, and to the rest of the crochet community and it sparked a number of social projects, most notably Kathryn Vercillo’s Mandala’s for Marinke campaing.

I decided to design something as a tribute to Marinke and this is that design. It had to be a cowl because I know that she prefered cooler weather over summer and also because she herself enjoyed a good cowl design.
The colours are pretty self explanatory: Marinke will always be colour to me, her Instagram feed was a riot of colour and her designs were always that: colourful.
The stitch I used was also deliberate. At the beginning of 2015 she was part of a group of designers who were asked (can’t remember by whom) to predict the next big crochet trend. Her prediction: crochet that looks like knitting.

I hope that this cowl makes you happy while you are creating it and that it keeps you warm, physically and emotionally.

Above all I wisl you all that is good and wonderful and if you ever do feel like depression is weighing you down please seek help. Talk to people; check into a clinic; pray; just share!

There is no shame in depression and it is ok to be sad.
It is not ok to let it overwhelm you and suck all the joy and colour out of your life.

Designed for: This Creative Life
Craft: Crochet
Category: Neck / Torso → Cowl
Published: October 2015
Suggested yarn: Karoo Moon Handspun
Hook size: 10.0 mm (N/P)
Yardage: 186 - 230 yards (170 - 210 m)
Crochet terminology: US
Languages: English
Techniques: in the round, lace, phototutorial, written pattern