decibella !

 Meet Decibella, a cowl that makes itself heard.

 It's  a chunky, stylish, reversible cowl in a quick-to-knit variation on Shaker Rib. You can probably make one this weekend-it's that easy. Kind of fun, too.

As I mentioned in my last post,  the muse knocked me upside the head to knit a big orange cowl as a prop, in a stitch that seemingly has no official name,  for a photo shoot. Once we finished photographing, I felt like it had potential, so I went ahead and reworked it and wrote her up, and walla! A published pattern.*
I'm particularly happy with the applied icord edge. Why have I never fallen in love with this finish before? I watched Kay Gardiner  icord around a very large  Fussy Cut blanket with mindblowing speed and dedication.  It looked spectacular. Now, I get it.

 

Both the pattern stitch, which uses some K1 below action, and the applied icord are easy to learn, and they elevate the piece to something a little special. Want to try it yourself?
                                                         
I'm itching to make another Decibella this weekend, too, in a lighter weight yarn- maybe a garden variety bulky or even heavy worsted- and maybe do the icord around both the top and bottom edge. ...or it could be worked as a smaller, closer fitting cowl that stands up around your neck ...or maybe use an ombre for one of the two yarns.....

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* the price is 4. ,  it includes plenty of photos and also, how to do the applied icord. Not that you can't find gazillion video tutorials online to do the same thing, umpteen different ways--but sometimes it's nice to have all the info you need on the same pdf/printed pattern. You may not think of me as someone who writes patterns, and it's true I don't publish frequently.  But after co-authoring two craft/knitting books, I've been to the rodeo and even cleaned up the arena after the broncos. If you know what I mean.