Thermal Cowl
We are super excited that knitwear designer, author, and blogger Jen Geigley has dreamt up a signature creation just for Purl Soho! Jen’s Thermal Cowl hits all her most defining notes: Very wearable, very modern, and very cozy.
We love the blown up scale of a classic thermal waffle, achieved here with a very simple cable pattern and our Big Good Wool. A big and chunky undyed wool from the Andean highlands, Big Good Wool brings natural beauty to the warmth and comfort of thermal.
Knit in the round, Jen starts and ends the Thermal Cowl with a couple rounds of a lateral braid stitch. Besides creating a beautifully detailed selvage, it’s also a fun knitting technique that seems to turn stitches 90 degrees… wild and wonderful!
You’ll only need two skeins of Big Good Wool to knit up this cozy beauty. And at a little over 3 stitches to the inch, you’ll be done before the wind really whips up!
Designed for Purl Soho by Jen Geigley.
Share your progress + connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, and #PurlSohoThermalCowl. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
- 2 skeins of Purl Soho’s Big Good Wool, 100% undyed Andean highland wool. Each skein is 274 yards/ 200g; approximately 403 yards required. We used the color Winter Grass.
- US 11 (8 mm), 32- or 40- inch circular needles
- A cable stitch holder
- A stitch marker
Gauge
13½ stitches and 16 rounds = 4 inches in stitch pattern
Size
Finished Circumference: 66 inches, to wrap twice around neck
Finished Height: 9 inches
Notes
C4F (Cable 4 Front)
Slip 2 stitches onto cable stitch holder and hold in front of work, k2 from left needle, then k2 from cable stitch holder.
C4B (Cable 4 Back)
Slip 2 stitches onto cable stitch holder and hold in back of work, k2 from left needle, k2 from cable stitch holder.
Pattern
Begin
Using a Long Tail Cast On, cast on 224 stitches. (Note: We accidentally posted this pattern with a cast on of 144 stitches. We’re so sorry for any trouble this has caused!)
Place marker and join for working in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.
Round 1: Purl to end of round.
Work Lateral Braid
Lateral Braid Round: Using Cable Cast On, cast 1 stitch onto left needle, *k1 through back loop (tbl) into second stitch on left needle, keeping stitch on needle; knit first stitch on left needle, slide both stitches off needle onto right needle; slip last worked stitch from right needle back to left needle; repeat from * to last stitch, knit last stitch, then pass second stitch on right needle over.
Next Round: Knit to end of round.
Repeat Lateral Braid Round.
Work Cable Pattern
NOTE: If you lose track of which cable you are working as you knit, cables that slant to the left are front cables. Cables that slant to the right are back cables.
Round 1: *C4F (see Notes), C4B (see Notes), repeat from * to end of round.
Rounds 2-4: Knit to end of round.
Round 5: *C4B, C4F, repeat from * to end of round.
Rounds 6-8: Knit to end of round.
Repeat Rounds 1-8 three more times.
Repeat Round 1 once more.
Work Lateral Braid
Work Lateral Braid Round.
Knit to end of round.
Work Lateral Braid Round.
Purl to end of round.
Bind off purlwise.
Finishing
Weave in ends and block as desired.
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!
Lovely pattern, thank you! If I wanted to make this cowl using fewer stitches so that it didn’t need to be wrapped twice, how many stitches would I cast on?
Hi BB,
Thanks so much for the kind words and for writing in! This cowl works with any multiple of 8 stitches, so for a single wrap cowl, I would suggest casting on 64 or 72 stitches.
I hope that helps, and please let us know how it turns out!
Julianna
This looks gorgeous and glad I have the yarn already.
Just wondering if you can recommend a “non-wool” yarn (preferably cotton) for this pattern also.
Hi Joyce,
Great question! Although you will need to knit a gauge swatch to make sure it will work, I would try using Cotton Pure held double.
Happy knitting!
Julianna
This looks beautiful – although I’m having trouble visualizing how to knit the lateral braid stitch from the written instructions. Would you consider providing a short video tutorial demonstrating that stitch? Thank you!
Hi Penelope,
Thanks so much for the kind words and for reaching out! Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources at the moment to do a video tutorial of this technique, but we will keep your request in mind for the future!
Best,
Julianna
This is a beautiful pattern. Can this be made into a scarf, not knitting in the round?
Thank you.
Krisanne
Hi Krisanne,
Thanks for reaching out! To work this pattern flat, you will need to work every other round as a purl round instead of a knit round. In the Lateral Braid section, you will purl the row between the two Lateral Braid rows, and in the Cable Pattern, all even numbered rows will be purl rows.
I hope that helps, and happy knitting!
Julianna
Hello, I am wondering if I can use the Worsted Twist yarn to knit this pattern in as a flat scarf? If so, would I still use the #11 needles? How how many stitches and how much yarn would I need.
Thank you!
Krisanne
Hi Krisanne,
Worsted Twist is lighter weight than Big Good Wool, so I would recommend knitting a gauge swatch in the cable pattern on US 8 or 9 needles. You can then multiply your stitches per inch by 66 inches, or however long you would like your scarf to be, and round that number to the nearest multiple of 8 to determine how many stitches to cast on. It’s fairly tricky to estimate how much yarn you will need when adjusting the gauge like this, but I think four or five skeins would be plenty. If you go with five skeins and it turns out you don’t need the last one, as long as it hasn’t been wound, you can return it for store credit!
Best,
Julianna
Hi Jen, thank you for this beautiful Thermal Cowl pattern.
I would love to knit this pattern and was wondering whether I can use double knitting instead if chunky wool. If so please could you let me know how much wool would I need and the amount of stitched I need to cast. Many thanks.
Warm regards
Jasu x
Hi Jasu,
Thanks for writing in! To knit this cowl in a different weight of yarn, you will first have to knit a gauge swatch in the cable pattern on needles that match your yarn. You can then measure your stitches per inch, multiply by 66 inches, and round to the nearest multiple of 8 to determine how many stitches to cast on.
Happy knitting!
Julianna
Hi, I love this cowl and plan on knitting it. I was wondering if you could suggest a hat pattern I could make to go with this cowl…using same yarn…chunky/bulky. Thanks.
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately we don’t have any hats written for this exact gauge, but you may be able to use our Super Soft Merino Hats For Everyone pattern. It is also knit on US 11 needles, but Super Soft Merino is a bit heavier weight than Big Good Wool, so I would definitely recommend knitting a gauge swatch to make sure it will work.
I hope that helps!
Julianna
trying to print the pattern but it just puts me into a do loop – can you help?! Thanks – you have such beautiful patterns!
Hi Chris,
Thanks for reaching out! If you’re on a desktop version of the site, you will find a “print” icon in the right column just below the date and tags. If you’re on a mobile version of the site, you will find a “print” icon below the pattern and above the comments.
Follow the easy on-screen instructions to delete whichever parts of the pattern you don’t want to print or save. For example, you may decide to shorten the pattern by omitting certain images or the list of materials. To remove images, click the drop down next to the image icon and change from 100% to 0%.
If you are still having trouble with the print function, please reach out to customerservice@purlsoho.com so we can help troubleshoot this issue!
Best,
Julianna
Hello from one of your most passionate fans in Italy!
Unfortunatly, I’am better with straight needles then circular ones. What kind of tips could you give me in this case?
Best,
daniela
Hi Daniela,
Thanks for writing in! To work this pattern flat, you will need to work every other round as a purl row instead of a knit row. In the Lateral Braid section, you will purl the row between the two Lateral Braid rows, and in the Cable Pattern, all even numbered rows will be purl rows.
I hope that helps, and happy knitting!
Julianna
Hi Julianna,
Beautiful pattern, but I’m baffled. I ran the numbers to change the gauge based on my stitch count equal to 4″ and keeping your 66″ circumference. My calculations gave me a cast-on count well above 144. In fact, 280. This being based on my choice of yarn and needles and your finished measurements of a 66″ circumference and 9″ width. It seemed way out of skew since my yarn weight was close to yours and my needles only 10 1/2. I calculated your numbers to shed light on the gap. Based on your measurements, gauge, and adjusting cast-on to accommodate the 8 stitch count required for the honeycomb pattern, I got 224 stitches to achieve your circumference of 66″. If using 144 stitches, the circumference would knit up to be 42″ in your gauge. Also, if you look at the picture and count the honeycombs, each representing 8 stitches, you get 224 stitches. I think the beauty of this cowl is the look you get when double wrapping it around the neck. Can you confirm your numbers for me and others who want to make this cowl and have it look the way it does in the photos. Thanks so much for your help. Tamara
Hi Tamara,
Oh no! We were wrong and we could not be more sorry! We so appreciate you bringing this to our attention! The correct cast on is indeed 224 stitches. We are so sorry for the confusion!
Best,
Cassy
Hi and thank you for another lovely pattern!
I tried the lateral braid with some cotton yarn today, just to see how it goes and it is not difficult at all. However, I ended up with a very loose set of stitches after the braid. I then tried again, pulling the through-the-back-loop-stitches very tightly, which did help a little, but still, the stiches in the row above the braid are rather loose.
Is there a trick to avoid that?
Thank you!
Carmen
Hi Carmen,
Thanks for reaching out! We haven’t experienced this in our samples, so I think this is due to the fact that you are testing out the pattern in cotton yarn, which has much less natural stretch and loft than a wool yarn and doesn’t bounce back as well as a wool or wool blend. I would try again in a bouncier wool yarn to see if that solves the problem!
I hope that helps!
Julianna
Gorgeous pattern! I’d like to try knitting this using straight needles. I saw your advice about knitting purl rows for every other row, but what should the first row be? The pattern for knitting in the round says to purl the first row, but if I do that with straight needles, I’d be starting the lateral braid on the wrong side. Do I just skip purling the first row?
Hi Gitanjali,
Thank you for writing in with this question! I do see what you mean about the first row! Instead of purling Round 1 as you would when knitting in the round, you’ll want to knit- Row 1 will be your ‘wrong side’. This will set you up nicely to work the Lateral Braid on the ‘right side’ and then follow Julianna’s recommendation to purl the rows between the Lateral Braids and all of the even rows in the Cable Pattern. I hope that makes sense!
Happy knitting!
Gaby
Hi, oh boy! I just realized that I did the 144 cast on …so I re did it and cast on 244 stitches….and just now noticed it is NOT 244 but 224 stitches! 😱. I can not rip it out again. Do you think it will be okay to knit the Cowl using 244 stitches instead of 224. Will the 20 extra stitches matter when I Knit this? Thank you! 🤞
Hi Barbara,
This will work just fine, but you will either need to cast on 4 more stitches or subtract 4. The cable pattern is in multiples of 8. I did the math, and you will only be adding about six inches to the circumference.
I hope this helps!
Happy knitting,
Oscar
Yay! The “comments” are back! 👍.Glad it got fixed! so with help from Oscar and Zha Zha I was able to figure out what I was doing…I started the cowl over and cast on the correct amount of stitches -224. Found a tutorial for the lateral braid …which is new for me …and very fun to knit! I am well into the pattern now and I love knitting it! With this beautiful Big Good Wool I will be done in no time. Lovely pattern! 💕
Thank you everyone for your help!
Barbara 🧶
Wondering if there are plans to restock Big Good Wool – it’s such a fun yarn to work with and would love the challenge of this pattern. Thank you!
Hi Katie,
Thanks for reaching out! Unfortunately Big Good Wool has been discontinued, so it wont be coming back in stock. As a substitute I would recommend using BROOKLYN TWEED Quarry! Just be sure to work a gauge swatch prior to beginning to insure you are consistent with the pattern.
All the best,
Gianna
Hi,
Could we use Super soft Merino? Thanks!
Jane
Hi Jane,
Thanks for reaching out. You can definitely use Super Soft Merino for this pattern! But keep in mind that Super Soft Merino is a bit heavier weight than Big Good Wool, so I would definitely recommend knitting a gauge swatch to determine what needles you should use. Hope this helps!
All the best,
Lili
Hi There!
I have been testing this pattern and am getting a very loose set of stitches on the knit row after the lateral braid rows. Any suggestions for other edging options instead of lateral braid?
I love your patterns, thank you for all that you do!
Hi Alyssa,
Sorry to hear you’re running into trouble with the lateral braid! Have you knit the second Lateral Braid Round yet? Knitting into those loose stitches may end up minimizing the gaps!
If that doesn’t work though, I’d be happy to brainstorm some alternative edges for this cowl. You could knit an inch or so of twisted ribbing. That will create a nice, structured edge! Another idea could be to do an i-cord cast-on for a smooth, stockinette edge (and then match that with an i-cord bind-off at the other end). Both of these ideas will look different from the lateral braid, but I think they’ll still work with the cable design!
All the best,
Lili
Thank you for you help, Lili!