Knitted bicycling balaclava?

[untonuggan]

I just learned how to knit (woo) and bicycle (woo) this year. I'm thinking about doing some winter riding and have been looking into knitting merino gear to keep me warm.

My dad is uber-randonneur-bicyclist, and has not-so-subtly hinted that he'd like a knitted balaclava if I'm up for it. He's looking for thin yarn (say, sock yarn or fingering weight) in black, and he wants it to cover his head except for his eyes/glasses. You know, the balaclava thing. I'm also thinking superwash is a necessity.

Just wondering if anyone here has experience with good bicycling balaclava patterns, pitfalls, etc. Also, if anyone has good/bad experiences with particular yarns that would be great.

Since this is a cross-community sort of thing, I'm crossposting to bicycles 

Cowling it up

[woldy]

I've decided that my next project should be a cowl, but I'm debating the pattern and yarn. I'm tempted by the Burberry-inspired-cowl-neck-scarf except that the yarn has been discontinued and is unavailable in the colours I'd want, so I either need a substitute yarn or a different pattern.

Does anyone have recommendations of warm, soft, non-itchy, & relatively inexpensive yarn at a gauge of around 4 stitches per inch? I'm wondering about some blends of merino with alpaca or silk, but I'm living in a place with no yarn store and it's hard to judge fibre online.

Failing that, does anybody have a favourite cowl pattern to recommend?