Swanky Floof Cowl

 2026 already? I want to say 'how can that be?!?' but here it is. There isn't going to be a whole lot of change for All Anti Up Designs in 2026. We'll still be going to festivals, designing patterns, sewing bags and loving knitting. I do have a few different things I'd like to 'focus' on for the new year but I'll chat about that in the future. My word for the year is Focus and I'll be implementing that into All Knit Up Designs. 

Let's focus a bit on the first design of 2026! Swanky Cowl! It's always so cold in January and I want something new, warm and cozy to knit and wear and combat the cold. 

Swanky Cowl is a simple and chic cowl with classic cables and clean edges. Using a folded hem the cables and ribbing go right to the edge with no fold over from the stockinette. The folded hem may be a stretch skill for some but WestKnits has a great tutorial for anyone who's intimidated. 

Original sample is in Tumalo Fibers Swanky Floof and Starlight Starbright Sport weight held together for a luxurious classic combo. The cowl is designed for either holding yarns together or a single skein of worsted weight yarn. A suri alpaca/sport combo or a mohair substitute would be great choices as well. Whatever works for around your neck will be a great option. I don't use mohair very frequently because it pokes and itches but the price point is usually better than an alpaca blend. 

I hope you all love your newest winter accessory! 

Applesauce Cowl

The last quarter of the year is already here!?! It feels like every year I get older the years go by faster and I wasn't fully prepared for that to happen. With the last quarter of the year comes my last design as the in-house designer for Leading Men Fiber Arts. It's been such a pleasure working with Steve and Andy while exploring their beautiful yarns and awesome community. 

So, time to share with you...the Applesauce Cowl! None of my other Leading Men designs worked with a gradient and I really needed one to shine. Applesauce Cowl uses slip stitch cables and simple ribbing for a highly textured and visual cowl. 

I originally used this stitch pattern on my sock design Applesauce Socks and thought the crossed slipped stitches would work great in a cowl design! The original sample used 6, 20 gram mini skeins for 120 grams total but I fully plan to knit another sample in a single skein (variegated this time) and use only 100 grams. 

The slip stitches in this pattern are specifically written without using a cable needle which makes it a great travel project. No cable needle means you don't need to keep track of it! Pretty much any fingering weight yarn you are comfortable wearing around your neck will work for this design. I wouldn't recommend a self-striping as it most likely won't line up with the pattern. 

Summer Heat Worsted

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love to purchase single skeins. So much potential in one ball of yarn! BUT, then I have to find something to do with it. 

Summer Heat Worsted is my newest cowl design to take care of that problem. Summer Heat Worsted uses a single skein (100 grams) of worsted weight yarn in a slip stitch pattern to highlight the color play in variegated yarn. 

The original Summer Heat pattern was a sock design that I loved so much that I knew a cowl was needed. The fingering weight version came in early 2025 (check it out here) and now here is the worsted version! 

Summer Heat Worsted was designed with a single skein of Malabrigo Seis Cabos (which I loved knitting with) but would work great in any worsted weight yarn. Instead of slipped your stitched with yarn in back, you'll slip your stitches with yarn in front so that the float will show off your colors. The float is then caught on a consecutive row and creates the 'V's of the heat wave. 

The stitch pattern is easy to play with so I think that adding a few repeats would work to do a DK version as well. So what are you waiting for? Grab a single skein from your stash and cast on!