Phowa - Matching hat & legwarmers

A new pattern - available just in time for holiday knitting, and for cold winter prep!

Phowa (pronounced po-wa) is sanskrit for transference of consciousness at the time of death. To some it may seem a little morbid that I choose to name this pattern that, but let me explain…

For the moment, let's set aside the Buddhist belief systems and bring this into something many people can relate to:  the cycle of seasons. Each winter, the life of the plants draws back into the Earth (at least where I live in the Northern hemisphere), where it remains asleep until spring. This cycle of death and rebirth is something that happens each year for the planet, and I can see a similar cycle in my own life.

Winter-time, for me, is often a time of internal reflection—a time spent in hibernation for the most part, when I can get to really know who I am on the inside. When the snow begins to fall for the first time, as it has this week, I feel a sense of coming home. 

The hat and legwarmer set, that I call Phowa, are a hand-knit representation of the process of consciously allowing ones-self to withdraw within—like the life-energy of the planet does each winter.

The sample is knit in Mirasol's Miski yarn.
The two items are available together as one pattern for $5.00

Finished Measurements:

Legwarmers: 131⁄4” (33.5 cm) calf circumference; 9” (23 cm) ankle circumference; 141⁄2” (37 cm) length.
Hat: 20” (51 cm) circumference.

Yarn:
Shown in Mirasol’s Miski (100% baby llama; 50 gram hank = approx 83 yards / 76 m)
Legwarmers: 2 hanks in #100 Snowdrop (A); 1 hank in each #110 Limestone (B), #133 Steel Blue (C), and #116 Bark (D);
or approx 110 yards A, 50 yards B, 45 yards C, 55 yards D in a comparable earth friendly yarn.
Hat: 1 hank each in #100 Snowdrop (A), #110 Limestone (B), #133 Steel Blue (C) and #116 Bark (D); or approx 60 yards A, 30 yards B, 30 yards C, 40 yards D in a comparable earth friendly yarn.

Knitting Needles:
Size US 8 (5 mm): 16” (40 cm) circular and set of 5 double-pointed (dpn).
Or size needed to obtain gauge.

Notions:
Waste yarn for tubular CO; stitch markers; tapestry needle.

Gauge:
19 sts and 20 rnds = 4” (10 cm) in Fair Isle St st.