How to Knit a Cowl for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Pattern and Tutorial

If you’re ready to go beyond the basics of knitting, a cowl is the perfect next project to try.

A cowl is essentially a tube with no shaping. This makes it an excellent introduction to knitting in the round.

For this cowl, I chose seed stitch for the body. Seed stitch produces a cosy nubby texture, which is great to look at and fun to touch.

It’s made up of knits and purls – two stitches that are foundational to knitting. I think seed stitch looks beautiful on men and women, making this a lovely unisex cowl.

If you don’t know how to purl, fear not. I’ll go over the purl stitch in this tutorial, including a video that walks you through the purl stitch step-by-step.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through how to knit a cowl for beginners. I’ll cover:

• yarn, needles, and other materials
• how to knit the cowl with any yarn by doing simple math
• knitting in the round for beginners
• seed stitch with a pattern
• seed stitch without a pattern (preferred)
• finishing by weaving in ends

How to Knit a Cowl Video Tutorial

Here’s a full video that goes over how to knit this seed stitch cowl:

This video covers the whole process of how to knit this cowl, including how to substitute different yarns.

Materials for the Cowl

To knit this pattern exactly, I used:

• Yarn: 2 balls of Valley Yarns Superwash Super Bulky in color Dusty Rose (Lovecrafts)
• Knitting Needles: 10mm 16” circular needle (Amazon)
• Tapestry Needle: Essential for weaving in the yarn ends once you finish knitting (Amazon)
• Scissors: these are similar to the gold-handled ones I have (Amazon)
• Stitch Markers (Optional) (Amazon)
• Measuring Tape (Amazon)

The green cowl: This cowl was knit with one ball of Debbie Bliss Super Chunky Merino in the color Leaf (Lovecrafts) and a 16” 9mm circular needles. I cast on 55 stitches to get a 22” circumference

Other Pattern Notes:

Knitting gauge: 9 sts/17 rounds = 4”/10cm in seed stitch

Finished Measurements:
Circumference: 22”
Height: 7.5”

How to Adapt this Cowl to Other Yarn Weights

This cowl is less a pattern than it is a recipe. While I’ve knit this cowl in a super bulky weight yarn, you can use a different yarn weight if you like.

Here is a quick and dirty yarn estimate on the amount of yarn you’ll need based on the yarn weight.

Keep in mind that the thinner the yarn the taller the cowl will be, to account for more scrunching and folds in thinner fabric.

So while I’m knitting my cowl to be 7.5” in height for super bulky yarn, you may knit your cowl to be 10” or even more if you’re knitting with, say, sock or sport weight yarn.

How Many Stitches to Cast On?

To knit with a different yarn weight, figure out how many stitches equals 4”/10cm when the yarn is knit in seed stitch. This is called knitting a “gauge swatch.”

When you figure out your knitting gauge, you can then calculate how many stitches you need to cast on for the cowl.

For example, let’s say I want to knit this cowl with a worsted weight yarn.

First, cast on a number of stitches that is wider than 4”

Then, you’ll knit seed stitch flat. Follow this one-row repeat:

Row 1: *K1, P1; rep from * to last stitch, K1
Repeat Row 1 until the knitting is 2” in height

Seed Stitch Tutorial Video:

If the above one-row repeat is confusing, watch how to knit seed stitch flat in this video.

To knit a gauge swatch, follow the instructions in the video for knitting seed stitch flat.

Once you have a gauge swatch, count up how many stitches make up 4”/10cm of knitted fabric.

With this worsted weight yarn, 23 stitches = 4”/10cm in seed stitch.

Let’s do some math

Now let’s do some basic algebra.

We want the finished circumference (or width) of the cowl to be 22”. So we need to figure out how many stitches it will take to get 22” of seed stitch.

We know that 23 stitches will get us 4”

Doing some basic algebra, we know that 4 x 5.5 = 22

Therefore, we need to multiply 23 stitches by 5.5 to figure out how many stitches will get us to 22”

23 x 5.5 =126.5 stitches

If this is all very confusing for you, then just focus on finding out the number of stitches = 4”/10cm in seed stitch. Then multiply that number by 5.5

Hold onto this number.

The number that we cast on needs to be an ODD number (ie. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, etc.). If your number is even, then round up or down by 1 so that you have an odd number.

In our case, we have 126.5.

So we can round down to 125 or round up to 127 and cast on either of these numbers using the worsted weight yarn and follow the pattern below!

The Purl Stitch

Seed stitch is mad up of knits and purls.

But if this is your first time purling – do not fear.

I’ve compiled a whole post on the purl stitch and included a video on how to knit the purl stitch here:

The cowl video at the top of the post also goes through the purl stitch in great detail.

Here is a quick and dirty overview on how to purl:

Yarn in Front: bring the yarn in front of the right needle. Usually the yarn is in the back when you knit, but when you purl, the yarn must be brought to the front.

Top to Bottom: insert the right needle into the next stitch from the top to the bottom. When you knit the needle usually goes from the bottom to the top. Purling is the exact opposite.

Wrap Counterclockwise: wrap the yarn around the needle counterclockwise. (You can also think of it as wrapping the yarn from the back to the front)

Then pull the yarn through the stitch and onto the right needle. This is a purl stitch!

A purl stitch looks like a little bump whereas a knit stitch looks like a flat V-shape.

Step-by-Step Instructions to Knit a Cowl with Bulky Yarn

Now that we’ve gone through how to calculate cast on stitches for other yarn weights and covered how to purl, let’s begin the pattern:

Using the longtail cast on, cast on 49 stitches

Make sure the stitches are not twisted when joining the stitches in the round

Place a stitch marker onto the right needle. This can be a store-bought one or one that you made yourself.

To join the stitches in the round, use the right needle to push into stitch on the left needle and knit the stitch.

Now the stitches are joined in the round.

The stitch marker marks the beginning and end of the round.

To watch a video of joining in the round, refer to the video above at the 8:33 timestamp.

Now work the seed stitch pattern as follows:

Round 1: knit 1, purl 1; repeat to the last stitch, knit 1

Round 2: purl 1, knit 1; repeat to the last stitch, purl 1

Repeat rounds 1-2 until the cowl measures 7.5” for super chunky yarn or longer if knitting with a lighter weight yarn.

Knitting Seed Stitch Without a Pattern (My Best Tip)

You can knit Round 1 and Round 2 of the seed stitch pattern above. Or… you can go rogue after knitting round 1 and simple follow this one principle:

Knit the purls and purl the knits.

What does this mean?

This first requires correctly identifying a knit stitch and a purl stitch.

So allow me this stitch anatomy lesson:

A knit stitch looks like a flat V-shape. A purl stitch looks like a round bump – like an ocean pearl!

So, when you encounter a knit stitch, purl into it. Conversely, when you encounter a purl stitch, knit into it.

Do the opposite of what the stitch is.

If the stitch is a knit stitch, don’t knit into it. Do the opposite – purl into it.
If the stitch is a purl stitch, don’t purl into it. Do the opposite – knit into it.

Makes sense?

That’s all there is to seed stitch.

Cast Off and Weave in Ends

When the cowl is 7.5” in length, cast off in pattern.

Thread the loose tail yarns onto a tapestry needle and weave them into the wrong side of the cowl.

Final Thoughts on Knitting a Cowl as a Beginner

Knitting a cowl is one of the best beginner knitting projects because it allows you to practice foundational skills while learning new techniques; it knits up quickly, is super cosy and looks beautiful on both men and women!

Happy knitting!

Pin for Later