A woman outdoors on a cloudy day, wearing a black hat and holding a hand knit mobius cowl featuring black and white cat faces.
A woman standing outdoors in a mountainous landscape during sunset, wearing a green quilted jacket and a hand knit cowl featuring black and white cat-themed colorwork, looking to the side with her hands near her collar.
A person wearing a turquoise ring and extending their arm outdoors holding mobius cowl featuring black and white cat-themed colorwork with a mountain landscape in the background.
Person wearing black ripped jeans, a silver bracelet, and turquoise rings, holding a mobius cowl with black and white cat-themed colorwork.
Woman with blue eyes holding a hand knit cowl over her face that features black and white cat-themed colorwork, outdoors at sunset.

Cat Cowl

THIS DESIGN IS FOR all my fellow cat lovers! While I’ve always adored animals of every kind, cats will forever hold a special place in my heart—and this design celebrates them with a bold Gesalt-style cat motif (first seen in my Cat Hat) reimagined for a Möbius cowl.

To knit my sample, I used the ladderback jacquard technique to manage the longer floats in the colorwork. The charts include placements for ladderback columns if you’d like to follow suit. Of course, you can always catch your floats in the traditional way—but in the playful spirit of this design, I encourage you to experiment! If ladderback jacquard is new to you, don’t be intimidated—it’s easier than it looks, and once you try it, you’ll discover just how many creative doors it opens for your future colorwork projects.

  • Design & Construction: The Cat Cowl is a Möbius-style cowl featuring a whimsical cat-themed colorwork motif. It begins with a provisional cast-on, and the body is worked in the round using stranded colorwork. A single twist creates the signature Möbius shape, after which the provisional cast-on stitches are grafted to the final round in pattern, forming a seamless, one-sided join.

    Ladderback Jacquard: This pattern provides optional instructions for ladderback jacquard to manage longer colorwork floats. While you can always catch floats the traditional way, ladderback jacquard is a great technique when you have multiple, sequential rows or rounds with large floats.

    Stitch Patterns: The stranded colorwork in this cowl is only charted, so you should be confident in your chart reading skills—or be open to learning!

  • SIZES
    One size

    FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
    The circumference as measured around the neck opening is as follows.
    27 in. (67.5 cm)

  • YARN
    Sport weight
    C1: 90 g/295 yds or 270 m
    C2: 90 g/295 yds or 270 m

    SUGGESTED YARN
    Sonder Yarn Co. Sunday Morning Lux Sport (100 g/328 yds (300 m)) – 65% Bluefaced Leicester, 25% Masham, 10% Cashmere
    C1: 1 skein
    C2: 1 skein

    The sample cowl is knit in the colorways Crossroad (C1) and Offline (C2).

  • US 5 (3.75 mm)

    You will need 32 in. (80 cm) circular needles to work in the round using the magic loop method, or your preferred needles for smaller circumference knitting, such as short circular or double-pointed needles.

  • Measure gauge knit in the round, after blocking.

    26 sts and 25 rows = 4 in. (10 cm) in stranded colorwork

  • Knitting
    Purling
    Knitting in the round
    Tubular cast-on
    Stranded colorwork
    Ladderback jacquard (optional)
    Chart reading
    Grafting stitches together (i.e., Kitchener stitch)

Purchase the Cat Cowl pattern on Ravelry