My newest pattern is live over on Ravelry. Rocky Shores is a bandanna style cowl that sports a soft point to cover your upper chest and neck while having ample slouch under the chin. It is closed with buttons in the back which give flexibility for customizing the fit to your style. The button holes are worked into the fabric making finishing minimal and no seams to close.

This design came about after thinking about how popular the kerchief or bandana is in American life. Combining the neck gater and popular bandana gives us the ultimate flexibility and a touch more whimsy. Often times people share with me that they feel so much warmer if the back of their neck is warm and covered. Cold breezes and transiting temperature days in late Winter leave us wanting warmth, but not desiring the heavy bulk of lots of layers or unwieldy ends of scarves as we get back to work in our gardens or in our homes.

This design features sporty stripes in the broken rib textured fabric to give a little extra room for creativity. It’s the perfect excuse to use single skeins from your stash. Those extras worsted weight skeins from long ago finished sweater projects are perfect for this blank canvas… and why stop at three colors? You could certainly use more or fewer based on what you have on hand.

While this sample is knit in Juniper Moon Farms Santa Cruz, which is a heavy worsted 100% organic merino that gives the finished cowl a dense and structured feel. Thanks to the broken rib fabric, Rocky Shores would be simply wonderful in any blend of fibers. Any yarn with alpaca or silk would give you a lovely drape and an elegant feel.

And let’s not forget those buttons! The buttons are such a lovely feature – not only can you add even more personalization to your cowl – you have so much flexibility for wearing! Leave the top buttons open to ease the top edge, or leave the bottom buttons open to give a slightly more shrug like feel. Button all the way up for the ultimate cozy feel.

I can’t wait to see your versions of Rocky Shores. Should you knit up one, or perhaps many as gifts please share them with me on Ravelry as well as on Instagram @adventurebounddesigns and @adventurewithWhitney