One of the many fandoms I love and tend to geek out on when given the opportunity is the Harry Potter book series by JK Rowling. Back in January, I attended a local Harry Potter themed event here in downtown Asheville and ambitiously made it my goal to knit something for the event to sport my sorted house colors – the fiery hues of burgundy and gold for Gryffindor!

I thought about making a scarf but the window of timing to knit a scarf was too narrow and I knew there was no way I’d finish a scarf before the event because at the time I registered, it was a week out from the event. I knew whatever I’d make, I’d have to work voraciously on to finish in that short a time.

Since a scarf was out of the question, I thought completing a cowl could be more realistically achieved. I love the look of most big block striped HP scarves I’ve seen and wanted to incorporate that in my cowl. I didn’t want the stripes to be vertical around my neck, which led me to the idea of diagonal stripes. Thus sprung the vision for my Godric’s House Color Cowl! I got to work knitting my little fingers to the bone and was able to complete my cowl just a few hours before the event! All in all I think it took me 4 or 5 days to complete, which for me is pretty quick!

The event I attended was a pottery paint night at Fired Up Creative Lounge where you choose a pottery piece to paint in their studio. I had a really fun time decorating a book box and turning it into my very own copy of Advanced Potion-Making. While we painted, we ate HP themed snacks, drank delicious frothy butter beers, and answered HP trivia. I wore my cowl  proudly throughout the whole event and even scored a few compliments from other attendees (I’m assuming they were fellow Gryffindors). At the end of the night, they also gave away raffle prizes for attending and I ended up winning a Harry Potter drawstring project bag donated to the event by the local yarn shop next door, Purl’s Yarn Emporium. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and hope to attend more events like this in the future.

After the event, I meant to get pictures taken and the pattern up on the blog right away, but life happened. It’s now March and I’m finally getting to it. Better late than never!

Godric’s House Color Cowl

Knit Pattern written by Amanda White of Yarnanigans, Copyright 2018

All my patterns are available for free. Please do not copy, sell, redistribute or publish this pattern as your own. If you wish to share this pattern on your site or social media, please link back to my site. You may sell items produced using this pattern provided you give credit and do not use my copyrighted photos for your product listing.

Materials

• US size 11/8 mm straight or circular needles – (I love and use my *Lykke interchangeable set for everything!)
• 2 skeins each of Lion Brand Wool-ease yarn in Cranberry (Color A) and Gold (Color B)
• scissors
• tapestry needle
• blocking mat (optional)
• blocking pins (optional)

Gauge

14 stitches/21 rows per 4″ square

Finished size

11.75″ H x 16.5″W (laid flat)

Abbreviations

• k – knit
• p – purl
• p2tog – purl 2 stitches together (decreases stitch count by 1)
• CO – cast on
• BO – bind off
• RS – right side (visible stockinette stitch)

Pattern Notes

Pattern is worked continually throughout holding 2 strands of worsted weight yarn.

Pattern Instructions

1. Holding 2 strands of Color A held together, CO 54 (I used the long tail CO method). Leave a long tail to use for seaming at the end, approximately 60″ in length.
2. Row 1: K across.
3. Row 2: CO 1 at beginning of row using the single cast on method (or backward loop method) to increase stitch count by 1, P across until 2 loops remain of left needle. P2tog to decrease.
4. Repeat Row 1 and 2 nine more times for a total of 20 rows.
5. Switch to Color B. Repeat Rows 1 and 2 ten times for a total of 20 rows.
6. Switch back to Color A. Repeat Rows 1 and 2 ten times for a total of 20 rows.
7. Repeat step 5.
8. Repeat step 6.
9. Repeat step 5 once more.
10. BO and weave in your ends.

Wet blocking the cowl really made the fibers open up and feel luxurious.

Finishing Instructions

1. Feel free to block your cowl to give the acrylic/wool blend some fluidity and uniformity. It’s not a necessity but I highly recommend it!
2. Lay your cowl RS down, and fold over both ends (as pictured below) and place the two edges together so that they line up stitch by stitch.
3. With your long tail of yarn and a tapestry needle, use an invisible horizontal seam to stitch the two ends together. To do this, place the needle under the first edge stitch on one side and pull the yarn through. Place the needle under the first edge stitch on the opposite side that lines up with the previous stitch. Pull the yarn through. Place the needle under the next stitch on the first side. Continue stitching back and forth like this until the seam is complete. (Click this link for video of the technique from Wool and the Gang.)
4. Fasten off and weave in your ends.

Seaming up the edges of the cowl using the horizontal invisible seam

Making this piece was extremely fun and helped me learn some new terms and a new finishing technique. I’m really glad I took up knitting during the last couple years and will continue to grow on what I’ve learned and find new techniques to challenge myself and enrich my knitting experience. If you have suggestions or ideas on what I should learn next, please reach out to me on any of my social media accounts @yarnanigans or email me! I’d love to hear from you.