Easy zig-zag crochet cowl - with instructions

Hi everyone. I'm back from our (always too short) vacation and my head is spinning with all the new projects I want to tackle. I'm sure that as as soon as I'm back at work, time will be so scarce again that half of them will stay on the shelves indefinitely, but at least the good news is that while on vacation I managed to finish my new cowl.

This is my fist autumn/winter project after the summer (well, if you discount the Christmas ornaments I made in July), and, as every single one of the handmade things we make, there's a story behind it. To avoid boring you with the details, let's just say that last winter, during a business trip, I lost a pink scarf that had been a gift from my mother a long time ago, and I decided that the best way to replace it would be to make a new one myself. 

When I saw this yarn at at craft store, I new I had hit the jackpot.

It is soft and warm, but the little bits of color make it look almost flowery. Which is perfect, since I'll be wearing a bit of spring and summer all winter long!

In case anyone wants to make a similar cowl, I've worked up the instructions below. I don't have a lot of practice in writing down crochet instructions, so if you find anything amiss, please let me know and I'll try to correct it or clarify it better.

Oh, and I used the American designations for stitches because those are the ones I'm familiar with, so if you're used to British crochet instead, google around and you will find lots of conversion charts to help you.

Round 1: chain 210 (I used a size 4 hook)

Round 2: start with a double crochet (DC) on the 3rd chain from hook

                work 8 DC on each of the next 8 chain stitches

                then on the next chain work 1 DC, chain 2, 1 DC again

                9 DC over each of the next 9 chain stitches

                skip two chains and *work 9 DC over each of the next 9 chain stitches

                then on the next chain work 1 DC, chain 2, 1 DC again

                9 DC over each of the next 9 chain stitches

                skip two chains*

                Repeat from * until the end

You will have the zig-zag pattern in sets of 10 double crochets. Your last set over the chain should be 10 DC after skipping 2 chains from the previous round.

Round 3: chain 2

                *work 9 DC over each of the following 9 DC in the previous round

                skip 2 DC (over the 2 chains you skipped in the previous round)

                work 9 DC over each of the following 9 DC in the previous round

                then over the next DC from previous row work 1 DC, chain 2, 1 DC again*

                repeat from * until the end

Rounds 4 to 16: repeats rounds 2 and 3 so that each 2 chain and each two skipped stitches overlap with the same from the previous round. 

(add more rows if you feel your cowl is not large enough yet)

Finish off and weave in ends. Right now you will have a zip-zag scarf. To turn it into a cowl, just sew the short ends together, preferably with the same yard (though to do that I had to remove the colourful lumps of thread first, otherwise I couldn't get the yarn through a needle, much less sew with it...).

And here it is, the perfect winter cowl, easy and fast to make (I finished it in three days in between a lot of pool and beach time), to warm you during the colder months with the promise of spring which is to come.

Have a great week,