I was super excited when I heard about Anzula’s new 100% cashmere yarn, Serenity, and almost
immediately started thinking of ways to use it. When I really sat down to design this pattern, I came up with a list of different things I wanted it to have. I wanted the pattern to feature a few different techniques to keep things interesting. I wanted it to have two colors, but to not be all-over colorwork or stripes. I wanted it to use the yardage of a cowl, but look like a shawl when worn. And thus, Dance of the Hours was born.

dance of the hours sara burch anzula serenity

This cowl starts off just like a top-down triangle-shaped shawl, in garter stitch, and features simple cabling of slipped stitches to get the subtle texture in the first section. Serenity is slightly fuzzy, which makes it so incredibly soft, but the stitch definition is still gorgeous and shows off texture well.

Once it’s joined in the round, this cowl features one of my favorite techniques: two-color slipped-stitch cabling. The delicate cables dance their way across the purled background, the two colors intertwining as one takes over from the other. Although it looks complex, the technique is actually really simple since you are only working with one color at a time. I’ve used it many times in other patterns, and it worked perfectly here as a way to transition from one color to the other. I often use this technique on a garter stitch background, but here I chose to purl the background, which allowed me to change colors every row and keep the colorwork section more compact.

I decided to finish the cowl off with a lace border. If you know my patterns you know I don’t do a lot of lace, but for this pattern I wanted to have the strands from the cables continue into a lace section. The lace here is both somewhat architectural but also almost reminiscent of leaves, an Art Nouveau inspired combination that shows up in some of my other work.

The end result is a deliciously soft cowl that is wonderful to wear and easy to style. And you get the joy of chosing two colors to play with from Anzula’s lovely offerings; I decided I wanted to go with a blue and grey, which is nice and neutral and would go with nearly anything I wear. This pattern would also work fabulously with bright colorways for a pop of color.

Dance of the Hours can be found on Ravelry.

You can find Serenity at these shops:
McKnittey.com - Online only
Amazing Threads - Maple Grove, MN
Bliss Yarns - Brentwood, TN
Knit One Purl Two - Rockford, IL
Knitting Store - Oceanside, NY
Knitting to Know Ewe - Newton, PA
Needle Tree - Greenville, SC
Spun - Ann Arbor, MI
Woolly & Co - Birmingham, IL and online
Yarn Garden - Charlotte, MI