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This fisherman’s rib cowl knitting pattern continues my obsession with fisherman’s rib that began with a scarf I made for a teacher gift a few years ago. I’m not the only one obsessed because it’s easily the most popular knitting pattern on the site!
I added a fisherman’s rib hat, which may be my favorite hat I’ve ever knit (it seriously doesn’t feel like wearing a hat at all, other than being warm).
Since I didn’t keep the scarf and I’m pretty sad about that, I decided to make myself a cowl instead. It ended up being a great way to use up yarn that had been lingering in my stash for a really long time. And it’s just as cozy as I’d hoped it would be without being too heavy.
Supplies
For my fisherman’s rib cowl I used about 275 yards of worsted weight (aka medium or size 4) yarn. That was two skeins of Plymouth Earth Ranch, a long-ago discontinued alpaca yarn. The rest was a similarly colored but obviously different yarn that had long since lost its ball band.
You could use any weight of yarn you like for this project. Using the same stitch count would get you a smaller cowl in DK or a larger one in bulky, or you can adjust the count based on your gauge (or the suggested gauge of your yarn if you don’t want to get too technical).
I used a size 6 US/4 mm circular knitting needle. If you use a different weight of yarn use the needle your ball band recommends.
You’ll also need a stitch marker to mark the end of the round, a pair of scissors and a yarn needle.
Gauge
Gauge isn’t critical on this project but I got 18 rounds (counting the v stitches) and 15 stitches per 4 inches/10 cm in fisherman’s rib stitch.
Size
My finished cowl is almost 11 inches/27.9 cm deep and 28 inches/71 cm around. If you want to change the size, adjust the stitch count in multiples of 2.
Knitting the Fisherman’s Rib Cowl
Cast on 108 stitches. Join for working in the round, being careful not to twist. Place a stitch marker at the beginning of the round.
Knit 1 round.
Begin to work fisherman’s rib in the round as follows:
Round 1: *knit 1 in the round below, purl 1. Repeat from * across.
Round 2: *knit 1, purl 1 in the round below. Repeat from * across.
Repeat these rounds to desired length, or when you’re close to running out of yarn.
Knit 1 round.
Bind off all stitches. Cut yarn and weave in ends.
Add this project to your Ravelry queue.
Blending Colors
When I started knitting my fisherman’s rib cowl, I quickly realized the roughly 182 yards of yarn I was working with was not going to be enough to give me the depth I needed.
But I remembered I had this similar looking yarn in my stash (because they were next to each other on the shelf) so after knitting about and inch and a half (3.8 cm) with the first yarn I joined in the second.
It’s clearly a little darker, so I decided to blend the yarns by working two rounds with one and then two rounds with the other, repeating.
When I ran out of my first skein of the Plymouth yarn, I put in a stitch marker so I knew how much more I could knit and not run out of yarn before I finished.
I worked the same number of rounds alternating skeins as I did on the first half, then dropped the second yarn and worked a section with just the first yarn again at the end.
It looks harmonious to me, kind of like a fade, and certainly not as obvious as if I’d worked all I could with the first yarn and then added the second. This is a great strategy if you have yarns of different dye lots or similar colors that you want to blend together a little more than making defined stripes.
This fisherman’s rib cowl is so cozy, and easier to wear than that big old scarf anyway. Which is not to say I won’t knit myself one to replace the one I gifted. Eventually.
