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CHI 2019 Cowl Knitting Pattern

This year’s theme for CHI is ‘Weaving the Threads of CHI’, inviting us to see the connections between different strands of research and how they connect the field. To provide the community with an opportunity to reflect on how different aspects of the field come together to create something each of them could not do individually, we offer up a knitting pattern that visualises the ‘Threads of CHI’. These knitting patterns are provided by Katta Spiel, Assistant to the General Chairs.

** update: fixed an error in the stripe pattern **

Materials

Yarn: The sample piece uses fairalpaka DK yarn (100m/50g). A finished piece requires about 1 ball o the main colour (MC; teal) and about 20g of the contrasting colour (CC; tangerine).

Needles: We used 3.5mm double pointed needles (dpns) for the sample piece. You might prefer to knit with 40cm circular needles.

Abbreviations

  • knit (k)
  • purl (p)
  • knit through back loop (ktbl)
  • twist through back loop (twbl) – insert right needle into second stitch on left needle and purl without dropping, then ktbl into first stitch on the left needle, dropping both together
A photograph showing a finished knitted CHI 2019 cowl.

Stripe Pattern

Repeat all parts for the round (chart below).

  1. p1,k1tbl,p1
  2. repeat step 1
  3. p1,tw1tbl
  4. p2,k1tbl
  5. move first stitch of the round to right needle, repeat step 3
  6. repeat step 4
  7. repeat steps 5 and 6 twice more
Instructions for the stripe pattern.

Mosaic Pattern

Each round seen on the chart is knitted twice, once as a knitted round, once as a purled round. Note that after each garter ridge, colour changes, starting with teal. Essentially, you start with a knit teal round according to the black stitches in the chart slipping all white ones (with teal yarn in back), then you purl the stitches you knit previously, slipping all you slipped previously. Then you switch to the tangerine and knit all white stitches in the chart (indicating row 3), slipping the black (a.k.a. teal) ones and repeating with a purl round. This sounds much more complicated than it really is. You can also find an introduction to garter stitch mosaic patterns here.

Instructions

The pattern comes in two sizes: S/M and L (sample piece shown in S/M). Instructions are given for S/M (L). The pattern is knit in the round.

  1. with MC cast on 108 (126) stitches; connect in the round be careful not to twist.
  2. purl 1 round, knit 1 round, purl 1 round
  3. knit Stripe pattern 36 (42) times through the round
  4. knit 1 round, purl 1 round (twice)
  5. switch to CC
  6. knit 1 round, purl 1 round
  7. knit Mosaic pattern 6 (7) times through the round
  8. knit 1 round, purl 1 round, cut CC
  9. with MC: knit 1 round, purl 1 round (twice)
  10. knit Stripe pattern 36 (42) times through the round
  11. knit 1 round, purl 1 round, knit 1 round
  12. bind off loosely by purling the last round
  13. weave in ends and block lightly, if desired.
A photo of Geraldine Fitzpatrick, one of the CHI 2019 General Chairs, wearing the finished knitted cowl.