Knitting and Crochet,  Links

I’m In Love With The Katniss Cowl

Katniss Cowl Collage with numbers

I’m a big Hunger Games fan. So when Catching Fire came out I pretty stoked with the press photos, but not for the usual crazy fan reasons. The real reason was this cowl. Ohhhhh, this cowl. I’m not even entirely sure you can call it a cowl, it’s more like a hybrid between a cape, a shawl, a cloak, and a cowl. But whatever it is, it’s gorgeous.

The original garment is, sadly, hand-woven specifically for the movie by designer Maria Dora and so obviously isn’t available as a pattern. Luckily, the knit/crochet community also fell as in love with this piece as I did, and since the press photos leaked way back when a number of look-alike patterns have emerged so that the cowl envying populace has a bevy of choices. Here are some of my favorites (all links are to Ravelry pattern pages):

1) L’Enveloppe by Sally Melville (approx $6) – A slightly less postapocalyptic look, I believe this pattern was in existence well before the Katniss Cowl became all the rage. This is by far the most wearable of the five – seems as if based on yarn choice it could be dressed up or dressed down easily and go with pretty much anything, where as the other designs seem to me to work better with things a bit more casual.

2) Katniss Cowl by Katharina Schnorr (free) – A solid free knitting pattern which does a pretty good job at mimicking the textures in the original in knit instead of weaving.

3) The Katniss Cowl by LollyKnits (free) – The most popular pattern on Ravelry so far. Cleverly uses rope to get the top of the garment as structured and thick as the original.

4) Katniss Inspired Cowl Pattern by Dahlia in Bloom ($8) – My personal favorite. Is clearly inspired by the original without being too literal for those of us who are a little less gutsy in their fashion choices. Only con is that it’s a bit pricier than the other paid patterns at $8.

5) Huntress Vest by Alexandra Tavel ($5) – An option for the crocheters among us. Again, very clever mimicking of the texture in the original.

When I get around to giving this a shot, I’ll probably end up shelling out the $8 for the Dahlia in Bloom pattern – it seems like the most “me” of all of them. I’ll also probably stick to the heathered grey of the original, but the possibilities for this kind of wrap seem endless so I’ll be keeping my eye out for new interpretations and for different uses of color.

Have you found any great Hunger Games inspired knits? If so, please share!

– Maggie

(All pattern photos are from their respective Ravelry pattern pages, Catching Fire Press Shot from Google Images)

Come visit me at Magpiemakingdo.com!

9 Comments

  • Jenn

    ohh the number 5 is my favorite. I’m lucky I can get through a scarf using a knit/pearl pattern so I’m probably not at the level that this template requires lol

    • magpiemakingdo

      I love number 5 too… It just seems so cozy! As for knitting… I felt like that for a long time too. The trick is you’ve just got to do it. Because really all knitting is is a bunch of variations on the knit and purl stitches. As long as you know them, you can fight your way through pretty much anything (well, except for color work and socks… still have yet to master those).

  • Timiae

    I love number 3. I remember when it was first released, it’s so striking and similar to the photos I’ve seen of the original (I have yet to see the movie, ugh!). That said, I do think that number 4 might be more wearable since it has a more relaxed and less high fashion look to it than the third one (which I can’t imagine actually wearing, as beautiful as it is).

    • magpiemakingdo

      I love #3 too… the pattern does such a good job mimicking the original. But 4 pulled ahead for me for exactly the reasons you stated. The high fashion thing is so not my jam… I’d love to be able to pull #3 off, but I feel like I’d have to actually be Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss to pull it off, and Jennifer Lawrence I am not!

  • Suzy

    Thank you for compiling a list (with pics) of all the recent patterns. I have been meaning to do a good search and mark ones for later… you’ve done an excellent job (you enabler you!). 🙂

    • magpiemakingdo

      No problem! I was hoping that there would eventually be enough mimic patterns out there for me to be able to do this, basically since the press photos leaked! (And I accept my status as Hunger Games fan knitting enabler with pride!)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *