Cafe con Leche Cowl Free Crochet Pattern

I don’t know about you but I love crochet cowls! Like really love them! I love long cowls that can be wrapped around your neck more than once (aka infinity scarves). I love medium length cowls that sit right at your chest. I love short cowls, almost like neck warmers, that sit close to your neck, like my latest free crochet pattern, the Cafe con Leche Cowl. The Cafe con Leche Cowl will work up easily, too, by using the Herringbone Stitch! Oh my do I love this stitch!

Crochet cowls are perhaps my most favorite accessory to design. Crochet cowls are super easy to make and are versatile in design. You can use almost any type of yarn to crochet a cowl with and you’ll have a fantastic accessory. Do you like crocheting cowls? Which are your favorite type?

What I also love about crochet cowls is that you can take any stitch and create a gorgeous piece that will take you through almost any season. Perhaps not summer, but oh how I wish! Cowls can also be crocheted in any width you’d like! I usually like to go for a 6″ – 7″ in width to provide optimum coverage when either wrapped around twice or just laying on your chest. But, the Cafe con Leche Cowl is a wide, or tall, crochet cowl and sits close to your neck that’s just perfect for the really cold winter!

I actually wore my Cafe con Leche Cowl the other night when my husband and I went grocery shopping. It was about 20 degrees where I live and it really kept my neck warm while I wore it with my winter coat.

Now, the Cafe con Leche Cowl came about when I signed up ELK Studio Handcrafted Crochet Design’s annual Make it for Me event. I had bought 2 hanks/skeins/bundles – I’m really not sure what to call them – of Caron x Pantone yarn in River Rock. I had always wanted to try these out and I found them on sale so I immediately bought two. I knew that one would not do.

The Caron x Pantone yarn is PERFECT for this design. The colors are already sorted out for you so that you can just get your small bundle, add it to your project, and crochet away, how fun! Or… you can be rebel and go against the grain and randomly choose your color bundles to crochet in whatever sequence you want! Either way, you’ll end up with a beautiful piece.

I wanted to take the cowl another level and add a different texture to the piece. As you all may have noticed, faux fur is trending right now! So, I decided, why not! Why not add faux fur yarn to the edges of the Cafe con Leche Cowl. This is a completely optional piece but it just adds an extra touch of softness to the cowl that leaving it out will be a sin! Okay.. maybe not a sin but you get the point. I used Red Heart’s Hygge Fur Yarn to the edges of the Cafe con Leche Cowl, and the effect it adds is really beautiful.

Let me know what you think! Have you used Caron x Pantone yarn before? What about faux fur yarn like Red Heart’s Hygge Furn Yarn? What sort of cowls do you like?

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Materials

Yarn
- Yarnspirations Caron x Pantone, #5 Bulky Weight, 127 yards, 60% acrylic/20% nylon/20% merino wool. 254 yards used
- Red Heart Hygge Fur, #5 Bulky Weight, 260 yards, 100% nylon. Just a few yards used for the trimming
Hook – J/6mm hook for main body; K/6.5mm hook for fur trimming
Notions – needle for weaving in ends

Finished Size

14.5” tall x 12.25” wide

Gauge

Not too critical for this project, however, 8 Hhdc sts = 2”; 6 Hhdc rows = 2”

Stitch Abbreviation

Ch – chain; st(s) – stitches; ea – each; sl st – slip stitch, hdc – half double crochet; Hhdc – herringbone half double crochet; sc – single crochet; BLO – back loop only; Fhdc – foundation half double crochet

Special Stitches

Herringbone half double crochet (Hhdc) – YO, insert hook into st, pull up yarn, (3 loops on hook), pull yarn through first loop (2 loops on hook), YO, pull yarn through the 2 remaining loops. See Moogly blog tutorial here: http://www.mooglyblog.com/herringbone-half-double-crochet/

Foundation Half Double Crochet (Fhdc) – ch2, yo, insert hook into 2nd chain from hook, pull up loop (3 loops on hook), yo, pull loop through first loop (3 loops on hook), yo, pull loop through all 3 loops on hook, 1 Fhdc made. See Moogly blog tutorial here: http://www.mooglyblog.com/foundation-half-double-crochet/

Experience Level

Advance Beginner

Pattern Notes

Ch1 does not equal a stitch. Join the top of the first stitch skipping over the Ch1.
Use a stitch markers to help you keep track of your first stitch on each row, if you feel you may need it.
Unless otherwise noted, slip stitch and Hhdc through both loops of stitches.
You can play around with the order of the colors in your hank but I followed the order color of the hanks for the first 20 rows, then reversed that same color order for the next 20 rows.
If you don’t want to use the Hhdc, you can use the hdc stitch.
Working in the sl st in the middle loop when required will result in the row below having a sideways “knit look” design. If you don’t want to do this, work your sl sl in the BLO.

How to Crochet the Cafe con Leche Cowl

Pattern

In first color bundle:

Round 1: Fhdc 90, join. <90 hdc>

Round 2: Ch1, 1 sc in the same st, 1 sc in ea st around, join. <90 sc>

Round 3: Ch1, 1 sc in the same st, 1 sc in ea st around, join. <90 sc>

Round 4: Ch1, 1 sl st in the BLO of the same st, 1 sl st in the BLO of ea st around, join. <90 sl st>

In second color bundle:

Round 5: Ch1, 1 Hhdc in the BLO of the same st, 1 Hhdc in the BLO of ea st around, join. <90 Hhdc>

Round 6: Ch1, 1Hhdc in the same st, 1Hhdc in ea st around, join. <90 Hhdc>

Round 7: Ch1, 1 sl st in the same st, 1 sl st in ea st around, join. <90 sl st>

Round 8: Ch1, 1 sl st in the middle loop of the same st, 1 sl st in the middle loop of ea st around, join. <90 sl st> See Picture for example.

In third color bundle:

Rounds 9-12: Repeat rounds 5-8.

In fourth color bundle:

Rounds 13-16: Repeat rounds 5-8.

In fifth color bundle:

Rounds 17-20: Repeat rounds 5-8.

Rounds 21-40: Repeat rounds 5-8 but reverse the order you used for the color bundles. Start with the fifth color bundle and end with the first color bundle.

Fasten off.

Top Fur Trimming in Hygge Fur

Round 41: Ch1, 1sc in the same st, 1 sc in ea st around, join. <90 sc>

Rounds 42-45: Ch1, 1sc in the same st, 1 sc in ea st around, join.

Fasten off.

Bottom Fur Trimming in Hygge Fur

Round 1: Working on the bottom edging of the piece, join yarn to the first st and ch1, 1 sc in the same st, 1 sc in ea st around, join. <90 sc>

Rounds 2-5: Ch1, 1 sc in the same st, 1 sc in ea st around, join. <90 sc>

Fasten off. Weave in all ends.

This image shows where to slip stitch in the middle loop for Round 8.

Much love and happy hooking!