The Montrose Cowl

  • A woman, wearing a bright pink striped montrose cowl over a white jean jacket, blue jeans, and blue tennis shoes, holds a small cream colored poodle while sitting on a rocky shoreline
  • A close up view of the Montrose cowl being worn over an olive tee shirt. The Montrose's garter stitch hem is in the foreground
  • Katie, a white woman with light brown hair, wears a bright pink and orange Montrose cowl over a white jean jacket
  • A Flat-lay of the Montrose cowl in progress, highlighting alternating bands of brioche and garter stitch
  • A white woman with brown hair looks out at Lake Superior. Around her shoulders is a bright pink and olive green striped montrose cowl
  • Katie, a white woman with light brown hair, leans down to pet the ears of a small cream poodle. Around her neck is a bright pink and olive green Montrose cowl

Right after I finished my Montrose Shawl, I started imagining ways to take advantage of all the things I loved best about it—stripes, plush garter stitch, more stripes, soft brioche, and did I mention stripes? —and make it a lighter, easy to wear little sister. Enter the Montrose cowl. 

Unlike her big sis the Montrose Shawl, little cowl Montrose works up in superwash fingering- or sport-weight yarn. This makes the cowl version much more drapey than the original and makes it ideal for warmer-weather-wear. Add the effortless, “I just threw this on” energy of a bandana cowl and the stripes-on-stripes fun that Montrose is known for, and you’ll have a winner on your hands.

Don’t worry, I kept all the squishy, colorful fun of the shawl version. Speaking of color, for this sample I paired the bright, pink, red, and orange tones of Spincycle’s Dyed in the Wool in “Hotdish” with the chilly, cold-olive of Baby Cat Yarn’s fingering-weight “True Grime Enthusiast”. A retina-searing bright with a nearly neutral? Yes please!

 Your options are limitless. Pair speckle neons with tonal pastels. Pick solids from two sides of the color wheel. Rock a low contrast grunge palette. Black and white could be quite striking. Stripe it how you like it!