If you love 80s colors, you’ll love this Electric Love Mosaic Cowl knitting pattern.
I was a child in the 80s and to this day I find myself gravitating towards items with an 80s color palette. Anything with an eye-catching neon, dark purple background, well, it's game over for me.
So when I found this Manos del Uruguay Alegria colorway, it spoke to me. It had all the feels of that time gone by. When Prince was singing about Purple Rain, when Poindexter was going electric on his violin, when John Cusack was saying anything.
Give me an 80s color scheme any day, I say.
It’s a nostalgia thing, I know. We yearn for yesteryear, when life was a little more carefree and fun. It was this feeling that compelled me to make my memories of the 80s into a knitted cowl. And so the Electric Love Mosaic Cowl came to be.
Mosaic Knitting
Mosaic knitting is one of those knitting techniques that looks complicated but is really easy and fun to do. It involves slip stitches and colorwork knitting, but is easier than other styles and methods.
If you’re not familiar with this knitting style, you can learn more about the history of mosaic knitting here.
Contrasting Colors
This mosaic cowl knitting pattern really comes alive from using high color contrast yarns. Using contrasting colors emphasizes the graphic patterns common in the mosaic knitting style.
Using fingering weight yarn, you’ll knit this mosaic knitting pattern in the round.
If you’re wondering what number fingering weight yarn is, it’s a 1. For more information, check out our yarn weight chart with info on knitting gauge, too.
Originally, I knit a sample in worsted weight yarn (shown below). As it turned out, the knitted cowl was just too warm and stiff.
Instead, I opted to knit something lighter with better drape (shown above).
The Manos del Uruguay in fingering weight yarn was the perfect choice. Thank goodness for my local yarn shop (LYS)! Seeing a yarn in person can change everything.
Electric Love Mosaic Cowl Yarn
The Electric Love Mosaic Cowl uses Manos del Uruguay Alegria, a wool blend, in two contrasting colors. The dark color is Agave and the light color is Natural.
It’s an easy to care for superwash merino yarn that is soft and durable. Each 100 gram skein has approximately 445 yards/ 405 meters.
You’ll need about 245 yards / 224 meters in the dark color, Agave. In the light color, Natural, you’ll need about 178 yards / 163 meters.
Get Manos del Uruguay Alegria yarn for this knitting project.
Knitting Tools
You'll need the following knitting tools to make this knitting pattern:
- Chiaogoo Red Lace interchangeable knitting needles (4 inch tips) - Circular knitting needles in sizes 3 (3.25 mm) and size 4 (3.5 mm) – or sizes needed to obtain gauge - 24” long.
- Stitch marker(s) to mark the beginning of the round and/or pattern repeats.
- A tape measure or ruler to check length as you work.
- A tapestry needle to weave in ends.
Have questions about circular knitting needles? Learn more in our handy knitter’s guide.
Knitting Techniques Used
The following knitting techniques were used in this mosaic cowl knitting pattern. Click on the links below for knitting tutorials on each one.
- How to cast on in the round.
- Learn the two-strand long tail cast on.
- How to join knitting in the round.
- Learn how to knit a gauge swatch in the round.
- How to cast off in knitting.
Mosaic Cowl Knitting Gauge
The finished size of the Electric Love Mosaic Cowl was 12 inches (30.48 cm) tall X 27 inches (68.58 cm) circumference.
Knitting gauge was - 28 sts x 56 rows = 4 x 4” / 10 x 10 cm in mosaic pattern / blocked.
The Electric Love Mosaic Cowl is suitable for advanced beginners and will keep you engaged as you knit. The pattern can be worked either bottom-up or top-down.
Get the Electric Love Mosaic Cowl knitting pattern here.
Follow me on Instagram @knitfarious. If you knit this pattern, please use hashtag #electriclovemosaiccowl to share your project and finished pictures!
Love to knit mosaic cowls? Be sure to check out my latest mosaic pattern, the Lazy River Cowl.
Want more knitting inspiration? Check out this collection of mosaic knitting patterns.
Lovely snood! Thanks for sharing.
Zinaida
Thank you so much!