Gradient Cowl in Linen Quill
Our Gradient Cowl in Linen Quill spins in a stunning wheel of color. Different than our original Gradient Cowl in Line Weight (no longer available), which was like a bright ferris wheel, this one in our new Linen Quill is more like a walk around a quiet, windswept field.
Linen Quill’s blend of fine highland wool, alpaca, and linen brings a rugged elegance to our Gradient Cowl. Its drape has beautiful body and drama, and its fine weight is perfect for spring’s chills.
And in our Sweetgrass palette, this Cowl flows from warm neutrals, through earthy pink, and into stony grays. The yarn is doubled throughout, so that each color transitions to the next by combining one strand of each. The effect is like a Japanese ink wash, quiet, subtle, and very beautiful.
Our Gradient Cowl Bundle (no longer available) includes all the yarn you’ll need to make your own beautiful circle of color!
Yarn lovers, if you adore the yarn used in this project, you’ll love exploring all of our other yarn collections! Discover over 45 thoughtfully designed yarns in nearly every natural fiber and in every spectacular color you can imagine. Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn store, where every skein is created with care and your creativity in mind!
Update: New Colors of Linen Quill!
April 16, 2018
We’ve added seventeen (yes, seventeen!) new colors to our Linen Quill collection and to celebrate, we’ve added two new color choices to our Gradient Cowl Bundles (no longer available): the warm pinks of Barn Door and the cool blues of Cove!
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Gina Rockenwagner. Click here to see even more of Gina’s designs!
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoGradientCowl, and #PurlSohoLinenQuill. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
(NOTE: the Gradient Cowl Bundles are no longer available.)…
- 5 skeins Purl Soho’s Linen Quill, 50% wool, 35% alpaca, and 15% linen. Each skein of this fingering weight yarn is 439 yards/ 100 grams; approximately 1,600 yards required. These colors, from the top, are Pale Oats, Pale Mushroom, Rose Granite, Oatmeal Gray, and Salt + Pepper.
- US 7 (4.5mm), 24-inch circular needles
Gauge
20 stitches = 4 inches in seed stitch with yarn doubled
Size
Finished Height: 12 inches
Finished Circumference: 58 inches
Notes
The pattern refers to each color by letter. Below are the letters we assigned to each of the Linen Quill colors. If you have chosen your own colors, arrange them in a pleasing order and name them letters A-E.
A: Pale Oats
B: Pale Mushroom
C: Rose Granite
D: Oatmeal Gray
E: Salt + Pepper
Pattern
To make this cowl, we followed our original Gradient Cowl in Line Weight pattern.
Learn About Linen Quill + All Our Beautiful Yarns
We designed this project to highlight the uniquely beautiful qualities of our Linen Quill, a wonderful fingering-weight yarn that is a blend of 50% wool, 35% alpaca, and 15% linen. It feels amazing in your hands, and in 70 jaw-droppingly gorgeous colors, Linen Quill is the candy store of yarn!
More Free Knitting Patterns
- Be sure to explore our vast collection of (mostly free!) Linen Quill knitting patterns and cast on!
More Fingering-Weight Yarns
- Shop our entire collection of fingering-weight yarns
- If you want to use a different yarn, be sure to take the time to get the correct gauge. Need help? Check our All About Gauge Tutorial!
More Yarns With Similar Fibers
- Shop wool yarn
- Shop alpaca yarn
- Shop linen yarn
Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our free knitting patterns and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!
Love the color blend of Sweetgrass, and can’t wait to receive my kit!
How many skeins would be needed if only 1 color of yarn were used? Thanks!
Hi Sheryl,
I think that a single color cowl would be lovely! This cowl uses roughly 1600 yards of our Linen Quill. That would equal roughly 4 skeins of 1 color.
Happy knitting!
Cassy
This is stunning and I love the classic seed stitch! However I don’t see how many stitches, is it a matter of my personal preference ?
Hi Elizabeth,
Good question! To make this cowl we followed the directions for our Gradient Cowl in Line Weight. The cast on for the cowl is 60 sts. You could certainly make it wider or narrower if you like!
Happy knitting!
Cassy
it is so lovely. now girls, I am knitting the fisherman’s rib for the first time in the new flax and waiting for the white to come in. I love the quill, another scarf is on the list. you are keeping my brain working, thank you. you choreograph patterns I choreographed ballet dances. I really enjoy your talents. jo
Just got the yarn for this cowl, I got sea grass and I love it! Can’t wait or get started! Beautiful yarn!
What stitch is this knitted in, please?
Hi Linda,
This cowl is knit in seed stitch. Seed stitch is an offset series of knits and purls.
I hope that this helps! Happy knitting!
Cassy
Good Morning,
I recently bought line weight for a wrap. Could I also use the line quill without doubling in the same wrap. Love the muted tones. Started daydreaming when I saw the quill :-).
Thank You for all the inspiration!
Denise
Hi Denise,
You can certainly use Linen Quill and Line Weight together in this project. They are roughly the same gauge and play well with each other (see our Tiny Stripes Hat). As with the Line Weight version of this cowl, you will be holding two strands together at all times.
I hope that this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions!
Cassy
If I wanted to make it into a wrap 20 X 72 how many more skeins would I need?
Hi Debby,
Great question! This cowl uses roughly 1600 yards and the 5 skeins of Linen Quill contain 2195 yards all together. This means you have roughly a third more yarn than the project requires. The kit will allow for you to make a cowl or scarf/wrap that is roughly 12 x 75. Based on these calculations, I think that would need roughly 2 more skeins of Linen Quill to achieve a wrap that is 20 x 72.
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
ok to use straight needles on this one? Can’t figure out why not but maybe I am not understanding the pattern correctly
Hi Sandy!
Thanks for writing in! You can certainly use straight needles — just make sure they are long enough to hold the 60 stitches needed. Hope this helps!
Best,
Adam
Im a little more than half-done with this. I love it, what a great project. I love ombré color transitions. I like it so much that I might do this in a blanket, just double the amount of yarn used. Would be great for a little girls room.
When will the Sweetgrass kit be back in stock? It’s beautiful!
Hi Christina,
Thanks for your kind words! We love that Linen Quill is in such high demand. Hopefully we will be seeing a new shipment of Linen Quill soon, but as for now we don’t know exactly when the next shipment will arrive. Stay tuned!
Best,
Adam
Do you think it will be back in stock by Summer’s end?
Hi Katie,
I think the yarn will be back in stock in a few weeks! We will definitely do a big post on it when it comes back in so everyone knows!
Best,
Adam
Another question… Could I do a similar look like the sweet grass palate with the cotton pure?
Hi Katie,
Thank you for writing us! You could certainly do the Gradient Cowl with the Cotton Pure. The only thing is that you’ll have to figure out the needle size and amount of stitches to cast on because the cotton is much thicker than the Line Weight or Linen Quill. The “sweet grass” palate is totally doable in the Cotton Pure. We have 43 beautiful colors! I’m excited for your creative adventure!
Best,
Adam
I waited for the sweet grass to come in. Why compromise on what you love right? So my question now is ….what if I don’t enjoy physically doing the seed stitch. Would it lose its effect if I did stockniette ? I can do seed stitch I’m just lazy. Let me what you think?
Hi Katie,
I’m happy you waited for the sweet grass color! It’s worth it! I do not suggest doing stockinette because the fabric will curl in. Rather, I’d do a garter border or do the entire piece in garter. This way your edges won’t curl and people will be able to see more of your beautiful knitting. Best of luck on the project!
Happy knitting,
Adam
Love the subtle transition of color! I would love to use these in knitting a baby blanket. Would you kindly advise if this would be a good option? If so, how many stitches to cast on and how many skeins I would need. Thank you all so much for providing such beautiful, interesting and fun projects-not to mention the gorgeous fibers and great support. Best, Donna
Hi Donna,
I’m so glad you love the pattern! I think it’s beautiful too! The gauge on this is five stitches to the inch, which is similar to our Worsted Twist yarn. For our Super Easy Crib Blanket in Worsted Twist we used around 1200 yards, so this would equal roughly five skeins of Linen Quill doubled. Hope this helps!
Happy knitting,
Adam
Hi,
I am an experienced knitter, but I don’t understand the use of 24″ circular needles with 60 cast on stitches. The needs seem way too big. Am I missing something? It seems like 16″ is a better fit–I am using Linen Quill, double strand and am worried the cowl will be too tight. Thanks for your response.
Robin
Hi Robin,
Thanks for writing in! This lovely cowl is knit flat and then seemed in the end so you can use any length needle you would like it knit it! Because the finished length is 12 inches wide, we like to go with a needle length that allows the work to lay fully on the cord when you are not knitting. This prevents stitches from jumping off of the needles when the work is at rest. The 16″ needle is a little too short for this purpose but should still work fine the knit the cowl.
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
Hi,
Really hoping to be able to buy this kit again, will it be available in the future?
Hi Angelica,
Thank you for writing in! While the kit is currently unavailable, all of the colors are available individually and you can purchase them as such! The colors of Linen Quill that we used here are listed in the Materials section.
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
Could this be knit in linen stitch? If so, what changes to the pattern would be required?
Hi Julie,
Thanks for writing in! I think that this cowl would be lovely in linen stitch. You could follow the directions for the linen stitch that we outlined in out Linen Stitch Colorblock Wrap. Using the same needles as for this pattern, you will need to cast on an odd number of stitches and you should be good to go!
Happy knitting!
Cassy
Would you still knit with the yarn doubled?
Hi Julie,
Thanks for writing back! I would still knit with the yarn doubled for your variation. Additionally, if you would like to still have the gradient, holding the yarn doubled is necessary.
I hope that this helps and happy knitting!
Cassy
When will the blue bundle for Gradient Cowl be available?
Hello FAD!
Thank you for writing in! Do you mean the “Moon” colorway shown here Gradient Cowl in Line Weight? If so, unfortunately we don’t have a bundle available because we no longer carry those same colors (Soft Black, Toasted Charcoal, Storm Gray, Oyster Gray and Heirloom White). If you’d like something similar I recommend getting the following colors in Line Weight: Soft Black, Field Stone, Oyster Gray, Dove Gray and Heirloom White. Please let us know if you have further questions!
Best wishes,
Kumeko
I just bought this kit in Sweetgrass, and I’m obsessed with it. I love the stitch of the Plaited Throw — would it be possible to knit this cowl with that stitch? Or would it be better to proceed with seed stitch? Thanks!
Hi Suzy,
I love this idea! It’s totally possible to knit this cowl in the plaited stitch. It would look very interesting with mixing the yarn colors. Best of luck and send us a picture when it’s complete! Thanks!
-Adam
I’ve been checking for a response and I see that My comment got deleted somehow, so I’ll leave one again.
I ordered your gradient cowl in linen quil and it was delivered quickly and the yarn is absolutely beautiful. Thank you very much! One question for you about the project.. how many rows of each color did you complete to get the 3 1/4 sections. I’d like to make mine as exact to original pattern as possible. Thanks again!!
Hi Alyssa,
Thanks for writing in! We are so sorry that your initial comment got deleted. I will look into what may have happened.
As to your question, we did not count rows or row gauge for this project as it is not vital here and each knitter can have quite a different personal gauge. If you knit to the 3 1/4 inch mark for each color combination, ending with a row 2, the cowl should look just like our sample!
I hope that this helps and happy knitting!
Cassy
OMG this is the same yarn as the country scarf…and I have a ton of yarn left over..could this be woven? Still haven’t figured out the color combo to make more than the 1 scarf!
Hi Pam,
Thanks for writing in! This is the same yarn as the Field Scarf! I’m not sure how you would convert this to a weaving pattern but it certainly would be a fun challenge. You could use the two strands as we did here as your weft and perhaps a white or gray as the warp.
Let us know if you try it!
Cassy
I ordered the sweetgrass bundle and cannot wait to start this project. And I’m pretty sure I will be able to finish it in the summer time so I will probably be very looking forward to the crispy weather in the fall to come…I saw in some comments that you could use the plaited stitch for this, I wonder if linen stitch would work too? Or the long sides would be too sloppy looking?
Hello Hazel,
Thanks for writing us! I think Linen Stitch could work beautifully for this project. Linen stitch is a bit more dense than seed stitch, so you might want to experiment with needle sizes and cast on. I would recommend trying it out with a couple of swatches to test your tension and make sure you happy with the texture before jumping in.
Let us know how it goes and happy knitting!
-Marilla
I love the gentleness of the color pattern. Could you recommend a bundle that would include the juniper green and the gray denim? I enjoy blues and greens together and would like a recommendation on a combination. =)
Hello Bonnie,
Thank you for reaching out- I love this idea! If i were knitting it I would use the following colors;
-Vintage Celadon
-Heirloom White
-Gray Denim
-True Turquoise or High Tide
– Juniper Green
Let us know how it goes and happy knitting!
-Marilla
Hello,
I’m in the middle of making this cowl in Sweetgrass and I’m just loving it! All of your patterns are so easy to follow and an absolute pleasure to knit – thank you! I love it so much I’ve just purchased the Cove colourway bundle as well – is the suggested order of colours as pictured from top to bottom? Ie, Vintage Celadon as colour A, Heirloom White as colour B and so forth?
Cheers!
Hello Sarah,
Thank you for reaching out and for your kind words! Your are correct, the order is as pictured.
Good luck with your project and let us know how it goes!
Happy knitting!
-Marilla
This may sound naive, but when slipping the first stitch holding the yarn in front and then at the beginning of the next row holding the yarn in back, the instructions don’t in dicate how to slip the stitch, e.g., purl wise or knit wise. My edges are looking different: one looks like a braid the other looks like an unbraid, ie., open.
Help!
Hi Frances,
Thanks for writing in! Whenever you are following a knitting pattern and it indicates to slip a stitch and does not specify which way to do it, you should slip always slip it purlwise. Since slipping purlwise does not twist the stitch, but slipping it knitwise does, slipping purlwise is the default way to slip a stitch!
I hope that helps!
Julianna
Does the kit come with the pattern?
Hi Kate,
Thanks for writing in! We do not usually include a copy of the pattern in the yarn bundle, since it is always available for free right here on the website! If you would like a printed copy, just drop us a note in the order comments and we will be happy to provide one!
Best,
Julianna
What method do you recommend for blocking this cowl? I am afraid of stretching it and wonder if I have enough blocking mats to carry its length. Also, I am impatient to wear it—how bad of an idea is it to seam it together now and block it after seaming it? I do have some big loops in spots around the edges I would like to neaten up and I somehow increased stitches in the middle of the project so it’s slightly wider along part of the length. Thanks!
Hi Juli,
Thanks for reaching out! I would suggest wet blocking this cowl, especially since you will want to try to even out the edging and the narrower and wider portions of the cowl – it should be much easier to stretch and manipulate the width after the yarn has had a good soak. There’s no problem at all with seaming the cowl before blocking, and in fact, if you are concerned about space, this would be a good idea because you won’t need as much space to spread out the sewn cowl!
Best,
Julianna
Hello – love your website… so beautiful
I would like to do this pattern in a wrap – something like 26 x 76 – how would I adjust the pattern and how many skeins of each color in the sweetgrass pallet would I need?
Thank you
Hello Brigitte,
Thank you for reaching out! The first thing you will need to do is to knit up a gauge swatch- We got 20 stitches per 4 inches in seed stitch with yarn doubled. This means that if you want a width of 26″ you will cast on 130 stitches and follow the pattern until it is your desired length! This cowl uses roughly 1600 yards and the 5 skeins of Linen Quill contain 2195 yards all together so I would reccomend just double your yarn, so two skeins of each color.
I hope this helps and happy knitting!
-Marilla
Would love to make a hat in seed stitch with leftover yarn from this project- can you recommend a pattern that uses US 7 as well and would you advise doubling yarn again or just single for a hat.
Hello,
Thank you for reaching out! I wouldn’t recommend a seed stitch for the brim of a hat because there is not much stretch with a seed stitch. You could use our Fluffy Brioche hat as a model and substitute the brioche stitch for a seed stitch. I would recommend doubling your yarn for this project.
I hope this helps and happy knitting!
-Marilla
I plan to make gradient cowl in linen quill hollyhock. I assume I should do the colors – A-E – in the order in which they appear in the photo. Bright Flamingo color A, etc.
Hi Ann,
Great question! For the Hollyhock colorway, the colors will be as follows….
A: Bright Flamingo
B: Pink Pop
C: Sweet Potato
D: Super Orange
E: Peachy Pink
I hope that this helps and happy knitting!
Cassy
Thanks.
I’m relatively new to knitting, but I understand, and can knit, most of this pattern. What I am not sure about is how to start it with 2 strands of the same color. Do I cut two lengths, do I use each end of the skein, or is there some other, better, method? Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Hello Xan,
Thank you for reaching out! This is a great question. If your yarn is wound on a winder and is in cake form rather than ball form, you can pull one strand from the center and one from the outside. If your yarn is wound into a ball, I like to split my yarn into two balls and pull from both. If I’m doing this, I will often put each ball in a small zip loc bag with a hole in the side. I will then pull my working yarn through this hole to prevent the two balls getting tangled as I knit.
I hope this helps and happy knitting!
-Marilla
thank you
As previously mentioned, I purchased the hollyhock bundle. I have considered using a larger size needle (maybe #10) to get a looser look and feel.
Wonder what you think.
Hello Ann,
Thank you for writing! This is very intriguing, and very cool. I would knit up a swatch to see how loose you want your stitch texture to be, before jumping in to your project.
Let us know how it goes and happy knitting!
-Marilla
Hi. I bought this kit a few years ago, and just started working on the cowl. I love the colors and the pattern, and seems like it will be quick knit. But, I am having problem with the edges and the slipped stitches on both sides. The stitches are very loose and I am not sure how to fix it. I am pulling the yarn when I knit/purl the last stitch of the row to make it tight, but I need to take the entire project out and start again. Luckily I am only about 10 rows in. Any suggestions on how to keep the edge stiches neat? Thanks so much!
Hello Rebecca,
Thanks for reaching out! The two most important things, in my opinion, is to make sure that your working yarn is in the correct location when slipping you slipped stitches (yarn in front or yarn in back) and keeping consistent tension which it sounds like you discovered! Once you have finished your project blocking will also help to even everything out.
I hope this helps and let us know if you have any further questions!
Happy knitting,
Marilla
Hi,
I found my old comment back in 2018 asking about knitting this cowl in plaited stitch, and had just started to work on this cowl this week, sweet trouble of having too many projects in the queue I guess haha : D How time flies, and how much more experienced I’ve become! Oh, this is a wonderful feeling.
I’m about halfway through and loving the beautifully muted color palette even more than when I first purchased them 3 years ago. I went with the seed stitch as I see how that is so suitable for the rugged look now.
Thank you again for designing this beautiful project and this time I would definitely be able to wear it this spring.
A question though, I calculated and see I would probably have about 119g of each color (595g in total) left when I finish. I wonder if there are any suggestions on how to use up the leftover yarns? Since I don’t live in the US now, it’s a little tricky to get more yarns to make them into bigger projects like a sweater. And I would hate it to see so many beautiful yarns just laying around with no purpose. I would love it if you could share some ideas with me.
Hi Hazel,
Thanks for reaching out, and I’m so glad to hear that you’re enjoying this pattern so much! I think that the Striped Colorblock Hand Warmers would be the perfect project to use up those extra 595 yards. This pattern also uses a fingering weight yarn and not very much of it at all!
All the best,
Lili
Looking to make this for my daughter. She is partial to greens. She’s trying to venture into brighter colors, but it’s still a new concept to her. Please be gentle. Thanks in advance!
Hi Shara,
Thanks for writing in! For a green version of this cowl, I’d recommend using the following colors:
Color A: Juniper Green
Color B: Grasshopper Green
Color C: Pale Celery
Color D: Pale Oats
Color E: Salt + Pepper
All the best,
Lili