The Odori Cowl was born in one of those perfect bursts of random inspiration where out of the blue I knew exactly how many stitches to cast on, precisely what needle size for maximum drape, resulting in the complete and serendipitous usage of only 1 ball.  It was magical, one of those cherished and rare knitting moments where I actually didn’t have to frog it and start all over again.

And did I mention I’ve worn it every day since?

The Odori Cowl is knit from one skein of beautiful Noro Odori yarn, a chunky, self-striping quadruple-whammy of angora, silk, kid mohair, and wool.  So soft and supple!  You can knit one of these in only a couple hours.  Make one in every colorway!  I am…

The Odori Cowl by Julie Edwards

Materials: US size 15 needles, 1 ball Noro Odori Yarn (110 yds, 14 sts per 4″), jumbo darning needle.

Instructions:

Cast on 32 stitches loosely.  Work a K2, P2 rib until you have used up almost the entire ball (leaving enough tail for cast off and finishing).  Cast off loosely and sew the two ends together.

I’ve been wracking my brain (and clacking my needles) for a simple project that only uses 1 ball of Katia Kimbo, a beautiful, but slightly pricey, woven-textured yarn.  And so I came up with Driftwood.

The stitch is a simple lattice work stitch– and a great introduction to lace.  The piece is worked flat, and then sewn closed.

You can make Driftwood in under an hour, I promise!  (I think I made mine in about 20 minutes…)  It’s knit on the largest existing needles (US size 50) using an extra super bulky yarn which consists of several strands of soft striping single ply yarn.

It’s also a super cozy, statement-making headpiece.

And here’s the pattern:

Driftwood by Julie Edwards

Materials: 1 ball Katia Kimbo, US size 50 needles

Instructions:

Cast on 8 sts.

Row 1: Knit 1 stitch, *Yarn Over, Knit 2 together.  Repeat from * until 1 st remains, knit the last stitch.

Repeat Row 1 until you have used up almost the entire ball.  Cast off knitwise, leaving enough tail to sew the seam.

Using alternating rows of knit and purl, with a 100% silk yarn and a paillette mohair held together, the Twinkle Twinkle Little Cowl cowl (say that ten times fast) can be knit in a night, and is a perfect project if you have just learned how to knit and want to polish up your purls.

The piece is knit flat, and then one end is sewn to the center of the piece, rather than the outside edge.  So what you end up having is a cowl with a big flap hanging off, which you can tuck in, turn inside-out, or just let hang down.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Cowl

Materials: US size 11 needles, 1 ball Himalaya Duke Silk Yarn, 1 ball Schulana Kid-Paillettes, jumbo darning needle

Instructions:

Cast on 38 sts loosely.

*Knit 5 rows.  Purl one row.  Repeat from * until piece measures 18 inches from cast on.

Cast off loosely, leaving a 10″ tail.

Using the darning needle, sew the cast off edge to the center of the piece, lining up the top corner with the top edge, and the bottom corner with the bottom edge.  You’ll end up with a small cowl with an extra flap hanging off of it.

You can wear the flap out, like a small scarf, tuck it in, like a cowl, or turn it inside-out with the flap folded over the edge, like a collar.

Weave in ends.

Knit on the very biggest needles there are and using a simple eyelet stitch, the Graffiti Wrap is a great baby-steps introduction to lace knitting.

This lace stitch really gets the most mileage out of the yarn.  Try the same pattern with smaller yarn and needles, and you will get a more delicate lace.  I love using this lace pattern in just about everything!  (See the Lace Beret and Lacy Beret: Chunky Edition)

Graffiti Wrap

Materials: US size 35 or 50 needles, 2 balls Katia Inca

Instructions:

Cast on 25 sts.

Row 1: Slip the first stitch knitwise, purl remaining stitches.

Row 2: Slip the first stitch purlwise, k1, *yo, k2tog.  Repeat from * until 1 st remains, k1.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until desired length.  (I used about 1 and a half balls.)  Cast off loosely.  Weave in ends.

This triangle scarf is designed for the newbie knitter.  It is worked entirely in garter stitch (that means you knit every row), with simple yarn-over increases leaving little eyelets at the edge which are later used to attach the fringe to.

You can make one of these relatively quickly and using only 1 ball of Noro Taiyo Sock yarn.  This yarn is self-striping, so all those beautiful color changes you see in the picture… the yarn did that, not me!

My First Triangle Scarf

Materials: US size 7 24″ circulars, 1 ball Noro Taiyo Sock Yarn

Instructions:

Cast on 3 sts.

Row 1: Slip 1, k1, yo, knit to end.

Repeat row 1 until you have 13 stitches on the needle.

Row 2: Slip 1, yo, k5, yo, knit to end.

Repeat row 2 until you have 227 stitches on the needles.

Cast off loosely.

Making the fringe:

Cut many 6″ long pieces with of the leftover yarn.  Take 3 strands, fold them over, and using a crochet hook, loop them through the inner eyelets (rather than the eyelets at the edge) of the scarf.  Pull the ends through the loops, and pull them tight.

Attach bunches of 3 strands to every inner eyelet, and to the only eyelets at the bottom point of the triangle.

Weave in ends.

This scarf uses color to create a “dip-dyed” effect and can be worn an infinite number of ways.

Materials: US size 11 needles, 1 ball each in 3 different shades of Cascade Kid Seta,  jumbo darning needle

Color Key: Main Color (MC): light blue, Second Color (2C): cream, Third Color (3C): red

Instructions:

Using 1 strand of MC and one strand of 2C held together, cast on 50 sts losely.

Row 1: Knit all stitches.

Row 2: Purl all stitches.

Repeat rows 1 and 2 for 34″.

Cut the 2C from the piece and hold 2 strands of the MC.  Work 2.5″.

Cut the 2^nd strand of MC and join 3C, holding the two strands together.  Work 6″ of this combination.

Cut MC from the piece and use a double strand of 3C for the remaining 1″.  Cast off loosely.

Tie opposite corners together and this scarf becomes a cowl.

This pattern is essentially the same as the other Lacy Beret pattern on the blog except I have substituted a bulkier yarn and larger needle size, making the hat quicker to finish and cuter to wear.

I used 2 balls of Katia Fabula, a creamy-soft, machine washable, big-and-bulky merino wool yarn that comes in an unusually short self-striping repeat.  It’s almost somewhere between a striping yarn and a space-dyed yarn, and looks great in the bulky weight with the giant stitches highlighting the color changes.

Lacey Beret: Chunky Edition

Materials: US size 10 16″ circular needles, US size 15 16″ circular needles, stitch markers, jumbo darning needle

Instructions:

Using the US size 10 needles, cast on 50 sts.  Join in the round, place a marker, and work a K1, P1 rib for 4 rounds (knit 1 stitch, purl 1 stitch, repeat).

Switch to the US size 15 needles and knit 1 round.  (The way you switch between needle sizes is simply to begin knitting stitches with the new needle size off the old needles, and eventually the project will be on the new needles.)

Now that lace pattern begins:

Round 1: *Yo, k2tog.  Repeat from * to end of round. (yo = yarn over)

Round 2: Knit every stitch.  (Even the yarn-overs from the previous round– which will feel different.)

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until hat measures 8″ from cast on, ending having just completed the 1st round.

*Knit 10 stitches, place a marker.  Repeat from * to the end of the round.

Shaping the crown:

Round 1: *Work a (yo, k2tog) until 2 stitches before the marker, k2tog.  Repeat from * to the end of the round.

Round 2: *Knit to 2 sts before the marker, k2tog.  Repeat from * to the end of the round.

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are too few stitches left on the needle to fit around the 16″ circular.

Cut the yarn,. leaving a 10″ tail, and using a jumbo darning needle, thread the tail through the remaining stitches on the needle, slipping the stitches off the needle as you do so.  You should end up with all of the stitches on the tail yarn.  Pull teh tail yarn tight like a drawstring.  This closes the very top of the hat.

Tie off and weave in ends.

These super cute and cozy little mitts can be whipped up in less than an hour.  They are knit flat, and then sewn closed, leaving an opening for your thumb.  One size fits all!  If you do, however, come across an extra large or extra small hand, add or subtract stitches in 4s (ie. 36, 32, 28, 24, and so on).

You can make a pair with about 50 yards of worsted weight yarn, believe it or not.  That’s 2 pairs per ball!

If you want them a little longer, just knit the 2×2 rib section at the beginning of the pattern for more rows.

This is a great stashbuster project since they only use a very little amount of yarn, and a nice way to sample yarns you’re not sure about.

Fingerless Mitts: Seed Stitch

Materials: US size 8 needle, 1 ball Debbie Bliss Andes, jumbo darning needle

Instructions:

Loosely cast on 32 sts leaving at least a 10″ tail.

Work a K2, P2 rib for 10 rows. (Knit 2 stitches, Purl 2 stitches, repeat.)

Now, repeat the following 2 rows for 15 more rows:

Row 1: *K1, P1.  Repeat from * to end of row.

Row 2: *P1, K1.  Repeat from * to end of row.

Cast off loosely in pattern (knit the knits and purl the purls as you cast off).  Fasten off and cut yarn, leaving a 10″ tail.

Using the tail yarn and jumbo darning needle, sew up from the bottom and down from the top, leaving an opening for the thumb.  Tie off and weave in ends.

Remember to make two!

Super lightweight, yet completely cozy, this infinity scarf is crocheted using frothy whipped alpaca-wrapped cotton.

All you need to know to make this is the Single Crochet Stitch!  Working a single crochet into only the front half of the stitch results in this classic rib pattern.

This infinity scarf is worked flat, lengthwise, and then sewn closed.  So when you do the first chain, you are actually chaining the circumference of the scarf.

This is the perfect project for beginner crocheters, and can be completed in a couple nights!

The Whipped and Frothed Infinity Scarf

Materials: Size L crochet hook, 4 balls Rowan Alpaca Cotton (2 balls in Rice and 2 balls in Fog), jumbo darning needle.

Instructions:

Using a strand of each of the two colors held together, chain 108.

Prep Row: Make a turning chain, and then, beginning with the 3rd chain from the hook, work 1 single crochet stitch unto the top half of each of the chains.

Row 1: Make a turning chain, skip the 1st stitch, the, working into the front half ONLY of the stitch, work 1 single crochet into each stitch until the end of the row.  Turn.

Repeat row 1 for 22 rows (or until infinity scarf is desired width).  Fasten off.  Using the tail yarn and jumbo darning needle, sew the ends together.  Weave in ends.

This is a great last minute gift, and perfect for brand new knitters as it only requires the knit stitch on huge needles.

The piece is knit flat (just like making a really short, wide scarf) and then sewn closed.  You can whip one of these out in an hour, easily!

If you are substituting yarns, make sure to use a super bulky, super soft yarn like Debbie Bliss Paloma, Katia Fabula, or even a double strand of Rowan Alpaca Cotton, with a beaded or sequined yarn (like Rozetti Yarns Polaris).  However, there is no other yarn like Chakra with actual stones in it!

And here is the pattern:

Sticks and Stones Cowl

Materials: US size 35 knitting needles, 1 ball Rowan Alpaca Chunky, 1 ball Mango Moon Chakra, jumbo darning needle.

Instructions: Holding both yarns together, cast on 26 sts.  Knit every row until you run out of Chakra and then cast off using Alpaca Chunky only.  Sew closed with the leftover Alpaca Chunky and weave in ends.