By Sarah Jane

Model: Tonaya
Photos: Sarah Jane

Difficulty: Intermediate

This is a highly textured cowl and pair of fingerless mittens. Made because I like lots of texture and wanted a pattern that would show of the beautiful nature of this yarn. The Front Post Puff stitch can be quite tricky to begin with but once you get going it is really quite addictive. I named it Acacia cowl because the stitch reminds me of the native acacia seed pods we get over here in Australia.

Size: Cowl – One Size; Mittens – XS (S, M, L)

Finished Measurements:
Cowl – 20″ around, 6 3/4″ deep
Mittens to fit wrist circumference – 5″ (6″, 7″ 8″)

Mitts shown in small size. This is a very stretchy fabric so your size choice should depend on how tight you like your mittens to fit. If you like firmly fitting mittens choose a smaller size than usual or measure after the first few rounds to ensure a nice fit.

Materials:

• Colourmart 100% Extra fine merino; [100% Merino wool, 460yd/400m per 150g skein]; color: Pistachio; 1 skein. Makes both cowl and mittens. Cowl uses 80g, Mittens use 60g.
• G/6 (4.00mm) hook

Gauge: 16 sts/13 rows = 4″/10cm in FPPS pattern

Note: Please read the pattern through before beginning. The mitten sizes are given in order from small to large as shown: Xsmall, (small, medium, large).

Special Stitches

Front Post Puff Stitch (FPPS): *YO, insert hook around post of indicated stitch, from front to back to front, YO, draw loop through. Repeat from * 3 more times, YO, draw through all 9 loops on hook; ch 1 to close. (This ch-1 doesn’t count as separate st, it is part of the FPPS).

(Tip: To place your FPPS when it says FPPS around FPPS: I found that by holding the FPPS between 2 fingers just at the top of all the ‘puffy’ stitches, you can see a bit of the post. This is where you put your hook around and work your FPPS around this bit of the post, the same way you worked it around the tr in the first round.)

Foundation Double Crochet (fdc): Ch 3, YO, insert your hook through 3rd ch from hook, YO, draw through, YO, draw through 1 loop (this creates your ch). (YO, draw through 2 loops) twice. This makes your first st. 2nd and subsequent sts: YO, insert your hook through the ch part of previous st, YO, draw through, YO, draw through 1 loop. (YO, draw through 2 loops) twice.

Fan: Make 5 dc in the same st.

Directions:

Cowl

Leaving a long tail and using fdc make 88sts. Join with a sl st to form a ring.

Rnd 1: Ch 3 (counts as dc), dc into next st. *FPPS around next st, dc into next 3 sts. Repeat from * to last 2 sts. FPPS around next st, dc into last st, sl st into beginning dc to join. (22 FPPS, 66 dc)

Rnd 2: Ch 3 (counts as dc), dc into next st. *FPPS around post of FPPS, dc in next 3 sts. Repeat from * to last 2sts, FPPS around post of FPPS, dc in last st, sl st into beginning dc to join.

Rnds 3 – 20: Repeat Rnd 2.

Fasten off and weave in ends. Using the long tail left at the beginning, join the base of the Fdc together before weaving in the end. This item makes a great headband or headwrap, just finish off at about Rnd 10 – 15
depending on the size you like.

Fingerless Mittens

Leaving a long tail and using fdc, make 20 (24, 28, 32) sts. Join with a sl st to form a ring.

Rnd 1: Ch 3 (counts as dc), dc into next st. *FPPS around next st, dc into next 3 sts. Repeat from * to last 2 sts, FPPS around next st, dc into last st, sl st into beginning dc to join. (5, 6, 7, 8 FPPS, 15, 18, 21,
24 dc).

Rnd 2: Ch 3 (counts as dc), dc into next st. *FPPS around post of FPPS, dc in next 3 sts. Rep from * to last 2 sts, FPPS around post of FPPS, dc in last st, sl st into beg dc to join.

Rnds 3 – 6: Repeat Rnd 2.

Rnd 7: Sl st across to FPPS, ch 3(counts as dc), make 4 dc in same st. *Sk 1 st, sc in next st, sk 1 st, fan in top of FPPS. Rep from * to last 3 sts, sk 1 st, sc in next st, sl st to top of beg ch-3 to join. (5, 6, 7, 8 fans, 5, 6, 7, 8 dc).

Rnd 8: Sl st across 2 sts, sc in 3rd dc of fan. *Sk last 2 dc of fan, fan in sc, sk 1st 2 dc of fan, sc in 3rd dc of fan. Rep from * to last 5 sts, sk last 2 dc of fan, fan in sc, sk 1st 2 dc of fan, sl st into beg sc to join. (5, 6, 7, 8 fans, 5, 6, 7, 8 dc).

Rnd 9: Ch 3 (counts as dc), make 4 dc in same st. *Sk 1st 2 dc of fan, sc in 3rd dc of fan, sk last 2 dc of fan, fan in sc. Rep from * to last 5 sts, sk 1st 2 dc of fan, sc in 3rd dc of fan, sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch-3 to join.

Rep Rnds 8 & 9 alternately another 2 (2, 3, 3) times each, ending with Rnd 9.

Rnd 14, (14, 16, 16): Sl st across 2 sts, sc in 3rd dc of fan, ch 5, sk next (sc, fan and sc), sc in 3rd dc of next fan, *sk last 2 dc of fan, fan in sc, sk 1st 2 dc of fan, sc in 3rd dc of fan. Rep from * to last 5 sts, sk last 2 dc of fan, fan in sc, sk 1st 2 dc of fan, sl st into beg sc to join. (4, 5, 6, 7 fans, 4, 5, 6, 7 sc).

Rnd 15, (15, 17, 17): Ch 3(counts as dc), make 4 dc in same st, sk 2 ch, sc in 3rd ch, sk 2 ch, fan in sc, *sk 1st 2 dc of fan, sc in 3rd dc of fan, sk last 2 dc of fan, fan in sc. Rep from * to last 5 sts, sk 1st 2 dc of fan, sc in 3rd dc of fan, sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch-3 to join.

Rnd 16,(16, 18, 18): Rep Rnd 8.

Rnd 19 (Medium and Large sizes only): Rep Rnd 9.

Rnd 20 (Large size only): Rep Rnd 8.

Fasten off and weave in ends. Using the long tail left at the beginning, join the base of the Fdc together before weaving in the end.

FINISHING
If you wish you can attach your yarn at the thumb hole and crochet a couple of Rnds in sc.

Wash and block as needed.

About the Designer
Sarah Jane is a mother of 8 and she crochets to keep herself sane. . .actually she’s been crocheting for about 40 years and lost the battle for sanity a long time ago! How does she fit it in to her day? Well there is always a reason to crochet and never a reason to do housework! She endeavors to make her patterns easy to follow and loves to create patterns with lots of texture and movement. Her teenage daughter inherits most of her samples after they have been photographed.

Pattern & images © Sarah Jane. All rights reserved.