The ancient Greeks believed that every visible thing around us was made of some combination of 4 “pure” elements: Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. They also believed in the fifth element, Aether, the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere. The word Aether in Homeric Greek means “pure, fresh air” or “clear sky”, imagined in Greek mythology to be the pure essence where the gods lived and which they breathed, analogous to the air breathed by mortals.

I have created the Elements collection of accessories using only four basic stitches, which most beginner knitters already know: knit, slip 1, kfb, k2tog. No purls, no complicated shaping, no tedious cast-on or bind-off. Easy mosaic colorwork uses slipped stitches and only one color per row. It makes fun and addictive knit with striking results.

You can knit them by working from the written instructions or the detailed charts.

Elements: Aether – bandana-style cowl. It is worked flat from side to side in a mosaic pattern. The pattern starts from the provisional cast-on at the back of the neck. The finished flat piece is bound off and wet blocked before joining both sides with Kitchener stitch or 3-needle bind-off.

Instructions given for two size options: loose with low back, and tall and snug. The size of the cowl can be adjusted by casting more or fewer stitches or/and working more or fewer repeats.

Yarn: Miss Babs Estrellita 92% superwash Merino wool, 8% Lurex (400 yd / 4 oz (365m / 115g), 2 skeins in contrasting colors, 1 skein each, shown in You Rang? and Blue Savannah

Or any similar fingering weight yarn in 2 contrasting colors

Needles: US #5 / 3.75 mm circular needles

Notions: scrap yarn, 1 marker, darning needle, blocking wires (optional)

Gauge:

• unblocked: 29 sts x 56 rows = 4” in (k1, sl1) slip stitch
• blocked: 25 sts x 49 rows = 4” in (k1, sl1) slip stitch

Size:

• Loose and low back:

  • circumference 28”, depth front 19”, depth back 6.5”;
  • MC - Blue Savannah - approx. 250yds,
  • CC(background) - You Rang? - approx. 170yds

• Snug and tall back:

  • circumference 19”, depth front 19”, depth back 10”
  • MC - You Rang ? - approx. 200yds
  • CC(background) - Blue Savannah - approx. 150yds

Written instructions are available in two formats:

• compact (3 pages, 11 pt)

• large print (10 pages, 20 pt), the version with big letters for those who use portable devices like tablets and e-readers; also for those knitters who have difficulties reading small font on paper.

Сharts (2 pages, 11 pt) with only minimal notes are available as a separate file. If you want bigger charts, you can print them as a poster (in Acrobat: tile scale 125% with 1” overlap will spread each page on 2 sheets of paper, the equivalent of 17”x 11”).

On Instagram (find me as @galimka_knits) use hashtag #elements_aether_cowl