This design began as a collaboration with Dana of Unwind Yarn Company. As soon as I saw the Birth of Venus colorway she sent me to work with, I decided that the cowl should feature pattern motifs that also reminded me of the Botticelli painting. The particular details I wanted to capture were the shell on which the newborn Venus is standing and the long flowing seaweed-like strands of her hair; I added a garter eyelet edge to suggest an ornate frame.

One 100g skein of DK or sock yarn is enough to make a cowl just like one of the samples; or use 2 skeins and supersize your cowl (make it longer, wider, or both - the pattern includes notes for knitting a custom size).

The pattern includes both charted and written instructions. Skills needed for this cowl include the following: casting on, binding off; working in the round; knit, purl, knit two together, purl two together, central double decrease (aka s2kp) and yarn over.