Chumash Cowl

In the remote regions of the Los Padres National Forest, thousands year old art galleries hide in sandstone caves and overhangs. The rock art of the Chumash indians range from simple geometric designs – lines, circles, cross-hatching – to elaborate, sometimes bizarre anthropomorphic creatures. Archaeologists thing shamans created the paintings for ceremonial purposes to represent supernatural beings or forces. Many of the paintings clearly represent animals and events that the Chumash encountered in their everyday lives. Chumash Rock Art was created with 3 colors, 2 of which were made of rocks. This cowl is made with 3 colors as well, in a comfy, chunky yarn. The use of elongated slipped stitches over a contrasting stripe of garter stitch mimics the geometric shapes found in the caves, and in woven artifacts collected along the Santa Barbara cost and nearby islands. Knit as a moebius, it can be worn as a long scarf, or doubled as a cowl, completely reversible.