Dreaming of a Noro spring

We are experiencing an absolutely dreadful spring. Snow, bitter winds, the works. It feels like spring has been delayed by at least a month. So, even though it is most definitely still wool weather, to cheer myself up I bought some Noro Taiyo sock yarn (50% cotton, 17% wool, 17% polyamide, 16% silk) in shades of green and blue, to knit a spring cowl.

I wanted something like the September Circle or Betty Mouat cowls, but I didn't want to purchase yet another pattern. So I decided to (finally) create a design of my own.

I went with a feather and fan lace pattern, which I thought would show off the self-striping Noro yarn well. I'm very pleased with how it turned out. It is a perfect pattern for one beautiful multi-coloured Noro skein, and knitting the light cotton/silk blend reminded me that the cold weather will eventually pass.

Sakawa Surf cowl

I'm calling it Sakawa Surf because the colours remind me of a Hiroshige landscape scene along the Sakawa river. The similarity is so striking, I'm convinced the Noro designers must have been inspired by this exact picture.

Image from the Phillips Collection

And appropriately for this spring, the hints of white can represent the regular dustings of snow we've been getting!