Lace Alpaca Hoodie Cowl Knitting Pattern

For the last 2 weeks I have struggled writing the knitting pattern for the Lace Alpaca Hoodie Cowl I designed last November, and knitting a new one from scratch following my own instructions:

The main reason why I struggled so much was because I waited so bloody long between knitting it last November while scribbling some half French half English notes on a notepad, and realizing while knitting the Hoodie Cowl now that I must have skipped some steps, because I had to do some heavy editing to the pattern I thought I had got right (the shame!)

Lace Alpaca Hoodie Cowl

Anyway, now the knitting pattern is available to buy from my Ravelry Shop as well as Etsy, and it's in French as well as in English (purchasers will receive 2 PDF files: one in each language).

I try not to price knitting patterns too high, but after publishing my last one, I realised that after the Paypal and the Etsy fees, there isn't much left to go in my pocket, so hopefully I will sell a few of those despite the fact that spring is already here and that knitters may be looking for more summery knitting patterns for the next few months; well, the pattern is there to stay, and I will just have to remember to promote it again in the Autumn!

To buy my Lace Alpaca Hoodie Cowl from my Ravelry shop, please click here.

To buy it from my Etsy shop, please click here.

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My Pink Hoodie Cowl

When I was a child (in the eighties, a time when what would be called child abuse nowadays was normal parenting behaviour),  my loving mother used to make me wear one of these in winter:

Photo from http://annees80-90.blogspot.ie/2012/11/la-cagoule.html

My one looked even worse, it was an ugly combination of dark green and orange (I would have been happy to get the red one above but I wasn't so lucky: living in a small town with only a couple of clothing stores and no Internet, we got to wear what was available at the time).

In theory, the balaclava (or cagoule) of the eighties was great: one accessory that would stay in place and protect us from the wind and the snow in the coldest of the winter, great for children as it was harder to lose than a hat and a scarf.

In practice however, I would describe it in one word: Cringe! not to mention the scratchy sweaty feeling of having an acrylic garment so tightly wrapped around your head on the walk to and from school.

I thought it would be nice to knit an accessory that functions like a balaclava, but that looks much better than the old-fashioned "cagoule".

This is why I started knitting my Hoodie Cowl (I'm not sure I like the name "Balaclava", I hope you can understand why).

Here is the finished item, which I listed on Etsy yesterday:

I added some lace detail as I think it suits this luxurious Rowan Alpaca Cotton yarn. It is loose enough around the head but not so much that it would get blown off with a gust of wind, and can be worn as a hood or a cowl (with the hood down), so no sweaty head, and I hope this accessory looks much more lady-like than the awful balaclava.

The writing of the pattern is another addition to my "To Do" list, along with my other Truck-load of other things that need to be done: I don't think I'll ever get bored in this life:-)

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