A Baby Camel Cowl to Keep You Cosy

Phreadde Davis

Interesting Camel Facts
Baby camels are born without humps. These will start to develop once the calf begins eating solid food. The humps are made of fat primarily and are used for energy storage when food can become scarce.

The following is included with permission from Peace of Yarn.
CAMEL
Cleaned, dehaired and combed baby camel top. This baby camel top is natural light camel brown with an approximate staple lengh of 2.2 inches (55 mm) and an approximate micron count of 18.

FIBER
Camel down is the soft warm inner down of a bactrian camel with a fiber structure similar to cashmere. The down is usually 1-3 inches long with a micron count of about 15-22 microns. Camel down does not felt easily. Baby Camel Top has been becoming more popular every year. Peace of Yarn offers Baby Camel Top which is only 18 microns (only 2 microns more than most cashmere) and which can capture the attention of hand spinners who seek a luxury fiber at a low price. It has a staple length of over 2 inches which is quite long for camel. The light color of this Baby Camel Top also will appeal to dyers.

CAMELS
Bactrian camels have two humps, weigh about 1600 pounds and stand about 7-9 feet tall at the top of their humps. Their gestation period is 370-445 days and give birth to calves weighing 80-130 pounds. Their life span is 40-50 years. Bactrian camels have two coats: the warm inner coat of down and a rough outer coat which is long and hairy. They shed their fiber in clumps consisting of both coats and is normally gathered. They produce about 5 pounds of fiber annually.

Camel Leaf Cowl
Chase away the wind’s chill with this easy and fast cowl.

I am a fast spinner but very slow knitter.  Even so, from start to blocking, this project easily took me under two weeks working only a few evenings a week.  You could do it in a weekend if you were speedy.

Fiber
I purchased 4 oz of Peace of Yarn Baby Camel from The Fold but this project only used about 2.4 oz total.

Needles
Size 4 circular and one double pointed size 4.  I used Knit Picks options circulars in metal for a slickness and speed.

Yarn
The yarn is a 3 ply of about fingering weight. The singles were between 32-36 wpi and about 4700 ypp.  The 3 ply yarn is between 18-20 wpi and 2050 ypp.  Knitpicks Bare Merino Wool Sock is a roughly equivalent yarn.

Gauge
This doesn’t really matter for a cowl but I got about 2.5 inches across a repeat of the body and 2.25 inches for a row repeat.

Cast On
Wind 10 yards of yarn into a tight ball but do not break yarn. This will be used for the top edging when you are done. With waste yarn, provisionally cast on 128 sts. Knit 5 rows of garter stitch ending with a knit row.

Body
The double vine is a lovely leaf lace that works well for a cowl.  All EVEN rows are knit stitches so I just show the odd rows. Repeat the chart 5 times.  For a shorter, non-scrunchy cowl, repeat only 3 times.

Bottom Edge Lace
For the bottom border, I used a double point needle along with the circular. You will be moving 'backwards' along the body stitches, knitting first on the stitches finished last and at a right angle to the body (see pic).  The first inch or two is awkward, but it gets a lot easier after you have a good attachment to the body.

Knit garter stitch for 5 rows ending with a knit row. Turn project around to back so the knits you just finished are in your left hand and appear as purls. Cast on 13 on the left needle using backwards loop cast on. Start the chart below: you will be on the WRONG side.

Using a separate needle, follow the chart and at the end of the wrong side rows you will knit one stitch from the main body and the one stitch from the chart together as one stitch, thus joining the border to the body by knitting (k2togbody). Continue the Wave Edging chart around and graft together the two ends.

And just in case you want that in words:
R1 (WS):k2, p9, k1, k2togbody
R2: (RS) sl, k3, yo, k5, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
R3: k2, p11, k1, k2togbody
R4: sl, k4, sl1 k2tog psso, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k1
R5: k2, p9, k1, k2togbody
R6: sl, k3, ssk, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k1
R7: k2, p8, k1, k2togbody
R8: sl, k2, ssk, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k1
R9: k2, p7, k1, k2togbody
R10: sl, k1, ssk, k2, yo, k2tog, yo, k2tog, k1
R11: k2, p6, k1, k2togbody
R12: sl, ssk, k2, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, yo, k2
R13: k2, p7, k1, k2togbody
R14: sl, k3, yo, k3, yo, k2tog, yo, k2

Top Edge Bind Off
I am using a modified picot bind-off for this to keep it loose around the face and so it will stretch over the head.  The body stitches will give a slightly scalloped edge and this fits well within that structure.  You can find photos of a standard picot bind off at Knitty.

Remove provisional cast on putting the live stitches onto your circular needle. BO3. *Slip the stitch from the right needle to the left and knit cast on one stitch. BO5 (two added stitches and three new stitches). Repeat from * around.

Weave in all ends, wash and block.

Stitch Definitions
BO = Bind Off
Graft = Kitchener Stitch
K2togbody = Knit stitch of pattern together with a body stitch in a k2tog to join

Hints:
I placed a marker before the final (k1, k2tog) on the bottom border. However, you will have to move it over one at row 12 every set.

No Stitch marks in a chart just indicate there is nothing more to do in that row.  When a border pattern varies in width, you have to chart to the widest number of stitches, but your rows may vary considerably in width.  Trust the chart and knit what is there only.

Comments

[Lauri Piszczor]

Hello!!!

This is the most beautiful and unique cowl I have ever seen! I would love to make it, but I am totally confused! I cannot see much of the pattern or charts. Is this pattern available in written form? I would love to buy it!!!!!! I REALLY want to make this for my daughter's birthday. This si the first thing she has ever picked out that she wants me to make for her. If you knew her, you would know how much that means to me!

Anyway, I would really appreciate your help with this!!!

Thank you SOOOOOOO much! You are VERY talented!! THank you for sharing this pattern. I am sorry that I cannot read it! PLEASE, PLEASE contact me about this!

Thank you SOOOOO much,

Lauri Piszczor
6550 Belfrys Ct E
Bealeton, VA 22712

[Barbara]

The charts are not showing - if you send me the pattern with the charts, I'd be happy to make you a pdf file.

Barbara

[Jane]

The charts and images for the camel cowl seem to be missing. I'd love to see what this garment looks like and perhaps make one. Many thanks, --Jane