The Crochet Llama Cowl pattern is a guest post written by Abbey from The Firefly Hook. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Llamas. You may think of them as the pack animal of the southern hemisphere, but I think of gorgeous yarn (Okay, fine. I may also think of spitting).

These fascinating majestic beasts do indeed protect themselves by spitting. They also spit to show their dominance or disapproval for fellow llamas (And I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them do it just for fun.).

As the moniker “pack animal” suggests, they are pretty good at carting stuff around: they can carry loads weighing up to 100 lbs for 10 – 12 miles!

Their yarn has interesting qualities too. Compared to sheep wool, it’s lighter, has no oil (like the lanolin in wool) so you get more yarn per ounce because it has no oil to be washed out and it doesn’t shrink when it is washed. Llama hair has very little crimp making it difficult to spin, but it blends very well with other fibers.

 

So how does llama yarn feel like and how does it work up?

The outer guard hairs are coarse and need to be separated from the fine down fibers. These down fibers are soft and have more crimp which produce a lovely, soft yarn that can be worked up into something worn close to the skin such as hats and sweaters. Yarn made from the outer guard hairs make excellent rugs and ropes – things that need to withstand wear and tear.

While visiting a local llama farm, I got my hands on a few skeins and worked up a design to share with you. If you are looking for 100% llama yarn you can purchase it at the farm I visited: https://www.carlsonsllovablellamas.com/wool/

 

CROCHET LLAMA COWL 

Since I purchased this yarn at a specific llama farm, you may not be able to replicate this cowl exactly. The yarn is 100% llama. Most yarns online are a blend of llama with other fibers.

Places to buy llama yarn:
-Juniper Moon Farm’s Sabine
-The Fibre Company’s Knightsbridge and Meadow
-Cascade’s Nevado

You can find these yarns at jimmybeanswool.com – tell them thefireflyhook {at} gmail.com sent you!

Materials:

• 3 skeins llama yarn (blend or 100%) in tan, cream & brown.
• 5 mm hook

Note: Cut yarn after each color change. Switch to new yarn color on slip stitch connecting round.

Pattern:

With tan, chain 90, join chain with slip stitch.

Round 1: Chain 3 (counts as 1 double crochet), double crochet in each chain around, slip stitch in first double crochet.

Rounds 2 – 4: Repeat round 1.

Rounds 5 – 8: Switch to cream and repeat round 1 four times.

Rounds 9 – 12: Switch to brown and repeat round 1 four times.

Rounds 13 – 15: Switch to tan and repeat round 1 three times.

Rounds 16 – 18: Switch to cream and repeat round 1 three times.

Rounds 19 – 21: Switch to brown and repeat round 1 three times.

Rounds 22 & 23: Switch to tan and repeat round 1 twice.

Rounds 24 & 25: Switch to cream and repeat round 1 twice.

Rounds 26 & 27: Switch to brown and repeat round 1 twice.

Round 28: Switch to tan and repeat round 1 once.

Round 29: Switch to cream and repeat round 1 once.

Round 30: Switch to brown and repeat round 1 once, finish off.

Final round: Attach brown to initial chain and slip stitch around.

 

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