La Dea Fortuna - double-sided cowl

The La Dea Fortuna cowl is based on two repetitive octogram (8 point star) motives, playing with two shades: Tarbet and Stockiemuir. The cowl is worked in one piece and can be worn on both sides. Each side shows the repeats of one of the two motives. The two motives are switched on the second half of the cowl, so each round presents one motif in the first half, and the other motif in the second half. This layout allows having a double-sided cowl. It is an open cowl that has 2 loops and 6 buttons (3 buttons per side), which makes it possible to wear the cowl in two ways for each side; so in total, it can be worn in four different ways!

The octogram motif is ancient, so old in fact that it is not even sure where its origin is, it could be Roman or from the Middle East. I’ve always been very fond of this geometrical shape. At the beginning of January, I was in my birthplace visiting my family, and one evening I went to the cinema to see the last film of Ferzan Özpetek, a Turkish-Italian film director and screenwriter, whose movies I usually love. The film was excellent, and in a few scenes, I spotted some stunning blue kitchen tiles with the 8-point star shape. The idea to use the octogram shape and its variations in one of my designs was born! As soon as I was back home that evening, I needed to draw the motif, and I played with it. From that drawing session, I came out with six solid different octogram motives; two of them are used in this cowl and to be more precise, they are basically exactly the same module, with different central elements. You may already guessed that the film title was ‘La dea fortuna’.

Yarn 
Fingering woollen yarn, 100m / 109yds per 25g, WPI = 14, in two shades. 
Yarn used for the sample: Kate Davies Designs Milarrochy Tweed (70% Wool; 30% Mohair; 100m / 109yds per 25g ball) in shades: 
A Tarbet (3 balls) 
B Stockiemuir (2balls)

Needles and Notions 
2 gauge-size needle(s) of your preferred type for working small circumferences 
2 below gauge-size needle(s) of your preferred type for working i-cord loops 
Stitch marker 
Tapestry needle 
Waste yarn (for provisional cast on) 
6 buttons (each button of 1.2cm / 1/2in in diameter if you are going to weave a button cover; otherwise if you prefer plain buttons, choose ones with 2.5cm / 1in diameter).

Gauge 
29 stitches and 31 rounds to 10cm / 4in over stranded stockinette in the round on gauge-size needle(s) 
Use 3.25mm needle(s) as a starting point for swatching.

Size 
Height: 18cm / 7in 
Length: 75.5cm / 291/2in

Pattern Notes 
After a provisional cast on, the cowl is worked in stranded colourwork. Each short end of the tube is then grafted together. One short edge is finished with two i-cord loops and attached with two a time simple-to make woven buttons (three buttons on each cowl side). The cowl circumference is easy to adjust to your taste/need.

Schematic Notes 
The pattern includes schematics that will be helpful for placing the necessary buttons and loops on the cowl.

Special Techniques 
Provisional cast on 
Grafting 
3sts i-cord

Technical Editing: Frauke Urban 
Design, Photography and Graphics: Claudia Fiocchetti