looking for a cowl pattern
 

A friend bought a beautiful hank of alpaca and has asked that I knit her a cowl. It seemed like an easy enough request but I am having trouble finding a pattern that really says "knit me." She the open to anything I want to make and would like it about 70" in circumference, maybe 10-12" wide. I have 665yds of alpaca...
Has anyone knit a cowl they just love or have a pattern for one that they are planning to knit that coule be "the one"?

What weight is the yarn? I don't want to give you lace weight patterns if it's bulky. :lol:

Jan - there is no guage on the alpaca...it is handspun so a bit uneven. It is not laceweight, but not bulky. I think the farmer said she knits with a 5 or 6 and I was thinking I would use an 8 to make sure it had a really nice drape

There are so many different types of cowls it's hard to know what you (or she) wants. Some are tight to the neck, some so loose they are more of a decoration than warmth. :shrug: Here's a few, but check Ravelry and narrow down the choices by appx weight of yarn, free or not, etc..

http://ilikecake.org/?p=142
http://www.loopknits.com/2010/10/28/...nd-swirl-cowl/
http://www.knittedfox.net/?page_id=591

Only on Ravelry -
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/greyhaven
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/darkside-cowl
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/libr...ntinental-cowl
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ilean
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ithacowl

This one gets used a lot in my knitting group as a gauge swatch because you can use it later as a cowl!
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/libr...-reliable-cowl

Then you would probably look for dk or worsted weight patterns. And yeah, there's gazillions of them

One of my favorite cowl "patterns" is to take some fairly short (16" or so) circular needles and cast on enough stitches to go around your neck easily (knit a swatch to get number of sts per inch, then measure how many inches you want around your neck for your cowl to be - then multiply it out).

Then cast on that number of stitches. Work a garter/seed type of stitch... and DELIBERATELY twist the first row so that it comes out with a turn-around in it.

The more you knit on your cowl, the more the twist shows and the neater it looks!
Dot

I also suggest knittingpatterncentral.com. There are some cowl patterns on there.