Good Times and the Candy Wrap

Golden Willow held its holiday drop in on Saturday.  Our regulars brought treats and we knitted, spun, crocheted, visited, laughed and had a great time all day long.  (One person shed a tear or two over problems with her shawl, but we sorted that.)  We covered the gamut from recipe swapping, charkha spinning, sock knitting, to the best exercises for relieving finger cramps acquired, rather ironically, from knitting gloves.  The day reminded me why I value my community of fibre people and how important their energy is to me. When we come together with shared interests and generous spirit, the world becomes a better place.

Many people remarked on the poncho/wrap/shawl kinda thing I was wearing that day, knitted from a bulky Louet boucle yarn I dyed a few years back.  I had only one 225 gram skein of the yarn and it was discontinued a while ago.  I wanted to knit something simple, but useful, limited to that amount of yarn.  I needed a wrap to ward off a chill, a piece that was easy to pull on and off and that would leave my arms free for knitting or spinning.

What I came up with is so complex, so inventive, that I hesitate to publish the pattern here, lest you perish in awe.  It was-wait for it-a garter stitch rectangle, shaped at one end, with buttons added, so that I can vary the look of the wrap.  I knit the wrap loosely, which eliminates the need for planning buttonholes.  Depending upon how you button the piece, you have a poncho with the point in front, a wrap with armholes, a simple scarf or. . .whatever you can come up with as a way to wear the thing.

Off the body, this wrap doesn't impress.  (See the photograph with the wrap opened.)  Put it on, and the fabric drapes to suit almost any body. 

So, here it is, my Candy Wrap, named after Candace, who was running around the store on Saturday, looking for ideas for yarn to use for this wrap and who demonstrated her own special baby wrap with Alex, one of our favourite GW babies.

Candy Wrap

The wrap can be worn many ways.  I usually wear it with the buttons running up my arm.

200 to 250 grams  of a bulky boucle yarn or any other bulky yarn to give approximate gauge of 2 sts per inch.  My yarn measured about 200 metres per skein.  (Please note that the Louet Diana yarn yardage on the Yarndex site is listed as 185 metres per 50 gram skein.  My wrap weighs  215 grams with 3 large buttons and I am certain that this wrap did not require 740 metres of yarn.  40 metres per 50 grams would be more likely. I have long since lost the label for this yarn, but this yardage seems more accurate.) 


1-60 cm/24 inch 10 mm circular needle or size required to give gauge.

3 large buttons.

Finished Size: 45 cm x 140 cm/18 inches x 55 inches

You don't have to shape the end, but it gives the wrap more versatility.  Note the offset button.

Pattern:

Cast on 36 stitches loosely.

Knit in garter stitch rows for approximately 120 cm/48 inches.


Begin decreases:  Decrease 1 stitch each edge on every right side row:  K1, SSK (slip one stitch as if to knit, slip next stitch as if to knit, place tip of left hand needle into front of both slipped stitches and knit these two stitches together), knit across to last 3 stitches, K2tog, K1.

WS Rows:  Knit.

Continue decreases on every right side row until you have 14 stitches remaining.  Bind off loosely.  Wash and block the piece.  Allow it to dry completely before adding the buttons.

Sew 3 buttons at regular intervals along the bottom edge of the long edge of rectangle, i.e., the edge without the shaping.  (See the photograph.)  I recommend experimenting with button placement.  Sew your buttons in place temporarily and button them through the wrap in various ways to determine the best effect, before securing them. Notice that one of my buttons is inset a few centimetres.  I did this in order to make my wrap hang evenly when it was done up. 

Because of the loose knit and the strength of the mohair, you do not have to plan buttonholes for this wrap.  Simply loop the button through a hole in the knitting and you're good to go.

Iris: A Meditation Wrap

I've been making a series of meditation wraps over the last few years.  The primary purpose of these pieces is mindfulness, but I've discovered that working them improves my focus and my fibre skills.  I finished Iris yesterday.  Here she is on the needles:

Before blocking:

And after:

iris is named for her colour, which is more violet than it appears here.  She's also named for the GooGoo Dolls song. 

I found the yarn at the back of a bin.  There was one ball, weighing about 55 grams, no record of the date spun nor the yardage.  (Lesson:  Label your yarn when you store it!)  I spun it years ago, I'm sure.  My current spinning is more casual, far less consistent and certainly not as fine.

I thought the yarn would be perfect for a meditation piece in a simple lace.  With no idea of the yardage, it would be easy enough to cast on, knit until I ran out of yarn and not be tempted to focus on the "project."  (I could have skeined and measured the yarn, but where's the fun in that?)  This piece is small, but large enough to protect me from the chilly night air.

I'm pleased with this little thing, so I offer the pattern here for you.  It's a very easy, one row lace pattern, perfect for meditation or for beginning knitters.  No dogs were harmed in the making of Iris, although Morris nearly came to a bad end when he thought it might be a good joke to steal the scarf when I was photographing it.  He was mistaken.

IRIS MEDITATION WRAP

50 grams 3 ply hand spun Samoyed dog hair yarn, Z spun/S plied, 24 wpi.  Rowan’s KidSilk Haze or similar yarn is a suitable substitute.  (20 sts over 4 inches/10 cm on 4 mm needles.  210 metres/229 yards per 25 gram ball.)

1—60 cm/24 inch circular needle or a pair of straights in a size to achieve gauge.  I used a 4 mm circular Addi.

Blocking Pins (lots of them!)

Gauge:  Approximately 16 sts over 10 cm/4 inches in lace pattern, unblocked.  14 sts over 10 cm/4 inches blocked.  Unblocked piece measured 29 x 94 cm/11.5 x 37 inches.  Blocked piece measures 33 cm x 122 cm/13 x 48 inches.

Note:  My standard border for meditation wraps is garter stitch.  In this piece, the K2 at the beginning and end of the lace causes the border to fold to the back of the work.  This fold blocked out on my wrap, but take the time to wash and block a sample of your yarn before knitting your wrap.

I used all the hand spun Samoyed yarn I had available.  You may knit your wrap to any width or length.  Be sure to buy sufficient yarn to complete the project.

Lace Pattern:  (Adapted from Jan Eaton’s Knitted Lace, Shell Pattern, p. 71.  Multiple of 7+2 sts.)

Row 1:  Knit

Row 2:  Purl

Row 3:  K2, *yo, p1, p3tog, p1, yo, k2, repeat from *

Row 4:  Purl

Using knitted cast on, cast on 47 stitches (37 for lace section, 5 for each edge).

Knit 10 rows (5 ridges) garter stitch, placing a marker after the first 5 sts and before the last 5 sts to mark the edges.  On a RS row, begin the lace pattern over the 37 sts between the markers, keeping the edges in garter stitch.  There is only 1 pattern row, on RS row 3.

Knit in pattern until you are approximately 2.5 cm/1 inch short of your unblocked length, ending after Row 1 of the pattern on a RS row.

Knit 10 rows (5 ridges) in garter stitch, removing the stitch markers before you bind off.  End on a RS row and bind off loosely.  I used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Sewn Cast-Off, from Knitting Without Tears:

Break your yarn, leaving about 3 times the width of your piece.

Thread this yarn into a blunt tapestry needle.  Hold the work on the knitting needle in your left hand.  Your yarn and tapestry needle are at the right end of the work.

*Slip the tapestry needle and yarn through the first 2 sts on the knitting needle, pull the yarn through.

Slip the tapestry needle and yarn back through the first stitch as if to knit.  Pull the yarn through and slip that first stitch off the knitting needle.*  Repeat from * to * until there is 1 stitch remaining.  Pull the yarn through this stitch as if to knit and fasten off.

Darn in all ends.  Wash the wrap in a no rinse wool wash product.  Roll the wrap in a towel to remove excess moisture.  Block the wrap to size.

(The silver shawl pin was a gift from a friend who purchased it in Asia.)

©Deborah Behm 2011