Bias Stripe Wrap
Habu Textiles’ Wool Crepe comes with an interesting note on the label, “This yarn will pleat.” Huh? Intrigued, I knit a square swatch in stockinette stitch and washed it. To my surprise, the square emerged from the water a diamond!
And so I set out to embrace the wonkiness of this yarn. I knit alternating stripes of stockinette and reverse stockinette, blocked the finished rectangle, and then watched as the Wool Crepe transformed into an alternating bias pattern with zigzag edges. This effect is easily explained by the fiber’s spin, which is known as “over-twisted,” but a rational explanation doesn’t make this yarn any less surprising and wonderful! Try it and end up with a perfectly seasonal, totally beautiful Bias Stripe Wrap! -Gina
Designed by Purl Soho designer, Gina Rockenwagner. Click here to see even more of Gina’s designs!
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, and #PurlSohoBiasStripeWrap. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
- 6 cones of Habu Textiles’ Wool Crepe, 100% wool. Approximately 875 yards required. This color is Charcoal. Please note: The yardage for this yarn can be a little inconsistent and the gauge can be tricky to accurately measure, so you may want to buy a 7th cone to be on the safe side!
- US 6 (4 mm) straight or circular needles, any length
Gauge
- Before blocking: 28 stitches x 32 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch
- After blocking: 32 stitches x 36 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch
Size
Approximately 12 inches wide x 55-60 inches long
Note
This pattern is designed specifically for this yarn, which is an over-twisted yarn. If you substitute with a regular yarn, the wrap will not have a zigzag shape.
Pattern
Cast on 120 stitches. We used a basic Long Tail Cast On.
Row 1 and all subsequent rows: * K20, p20, repeat from * to end of row.
When you are nearly finished with the sixth cone, bind off loosely in pattern.
Weave in the ends and block. Here’s how…
Fill a bucket or basin with room temperature water. While the water fills the basin, add a small amount of mild soap. Submerge the wrap into the water, and leave it alone to soak for at least 15 minutes. Empty and refill the basin, then re-submerge the wrap for another minute. Remove the wrap and squeeze out the extra water (do not wring or twist). Extract more water by rolling the wrap in a towel and squeezing. Finally, lay the wrap flat to dry. If you want, use a blocking board and pins to make the points of the scarf extra pointy (we didn’t). Even without pins, you can gently stretch the wrap to make it slightly longer or wider. Allow the wrap to air dry and enjoy!
The following info shown under Gauge does not make sense to me as follow:
Before blocking: 28 stitches x 32 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch
After blocking: 32 stitches x 36 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch
Usually when a knitted piece is blocked, it becomes a little larger. According to the info shown, it gets smaller
Hi Renée,
Thanks for your question! Whether a yarn grows or not after blocking really depends on the yarn you are working with. In this case, the yarn is over-spun, so this could be why the gauge gets smaller after blocking. I would try a swatch and see which needle size works best for you after blocking. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Best,
Adam
Hi Hart,
Thanks for your question! I don’t find this wool itchy at all and I’ve never heard any customers comment about that around the shop. In terms of blocking, you should definitely pin each point and stretch the scarf to the appropriate length. Since this yarn is over-spun, it will tend to bounce back if not blocked aggressively.
Thanks for writing in and good luck!
-Adam
While surfing the web I discovered this scarf. I can’t wait to purchase this yarn at our local yarn specialty shop and get started knitting it. It appears to be very soft and I love peaks. After I knit it I will post my results.
I just received my order of Wool Crepe Yarn. The pattern I chose is the Bias Stripe Wrap. I began to knit and as the yarn came off the cone it twisted so that after awhile I couldn’t knit anymore. Any tips on how to minimize the twisting? I realize this is the nature of this particular yarn and I do love Wool Crepe. But it’s awfully hard to knit with it.
Thanks so much for your help!
Hi Margaret,
Thanks for writing in! You have it spot on. The overtwisted quality of this yarn is what makes the finished wrap come out with such a unique look. Gina, the designer, put the cone on top of a heavy bottle between her legs as she knit. This allowed the yarn to come off straight up and minimized the amount that came off the cone at a time. When I knit the wrap, I put the cone that I was knitting from in a ziplock bag and closed it 90% of the way. This let small amounts of yarn come off the cone at a time. I would also, occasionally, pull out a yard length of yarn and let the built up twist that was nearest the work travel down into that yard length.
While this yarn can be challenging to work with, the finished product is so worth the effort and after awhile, you will get used to working with the yarn.
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
Dear Cassy,
Thanks so much for getting right back to me right away with the helpful tips on Wool Crepe twisting. I can’t wait to get started and I’m sure the result will be well worth it.
Thanks again! You guys at Purl Soho are the best!
Margaret
The pattern is for circular needles. What about using straight needles. I’m a real beginner
Hi, Sharon!
Thank you for your question! You can totally use straight needles for this pattern! However, circular needles might give you a bit more working room since they tend to be a bit longer. Knitting a flat piece, like this wrap, on circular needles is exactly like knitting with straight needles. To use circular needles for knitting flat you simply finish a row, turn the work so the other side is facing you and put the needle that was in your right hand into your left hand and the needle that was in your left hand into your right hand, ready to go on the next row!
By the way, once you get the hang of it, you may find that you never use straight needles again, even for projects without so many stitches. Circular needles are just easier to keep track of (no losing one in the cushions of your couch!), and they never poke the person sitting next to you!
Again, thank you for writing in and if you further questions please let us know!
Best,
Kumeko
I can’t wait to start this tonight! I was pondering as I held a cone of this yarn…. do you think that if I used a double strand. with a veeery thin second yarn, alpaca perhaps, that the twist of the HABU yarn would still create the same pointy scarf? Beautiful website! Thanks!
HI Palma,
Thanks for writing in! I can’t be sure but I would be reticent to carry another yarn along with the wool crepe as I am not certain that it would behave in the same way. You could definitely knit a little swatch with the two held together and block it. If the fabric biases, you should be good to go!
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
Because this yarn will “shrink” with blocking, does it matter what version of cast on is used? I don’t want to prevent the zig zag effect of the cast on edge.
Thank you!
Hi Bonnie,
Thanks for the question! I would not say that the yarn really shrinks so much as it moves. You will begin to see the chevroned edge even as you knit! I would suggest using a regular long tail cast on or a backwards loop cast on. I used the long tail cast on when I knit this lovely wrap but it was a bit challenging and if you are having difficulty, the backwards loop cast on will work just as well!
Best,
Cassy
I made this scarf, and on the label of the yarn, it states that this yarn will shrink approximately 40% because of the overtwist. If I were to do this again, I would add another cone to make it a little longer.
I also found that it was hard to keep from twisting until I realized that, if I used the notch in the cone, and ran the yarn through the center of the cone, it didn’t twist as much.
My question is, since I ordered much too much yarn, are there other patterns that use this yarn?
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for writing in! This yarn can certainly be a challenge. For myself, I put the cones in ziplock bags, zipped mostly closed and found that that helped quite a bit. We appreciate your tip and I am sure that others will as well! I also blocked the scarf very aggressively to get more length and found that it helped quite a bit!
I am not aware of other projects using this yarn. A quick check on Ravelry yielded only this pattern. I’d say that experimenting with some simple patterns that have a similar gauge that may work with the biasing might be the way to go!
Best,
Cassy
Hi, I purchased this yarn a few years ago and want to make this scarf. I am fairly new to knitting, so this may be a silly question. I don’t see how to knit the points. Will it “make” the points as I knit across? The 120 stitches is from side to sire, correct?
Thank you
Hello Glennice,
Thank you for reaching out! This effect is easily explained by the fiber’s spin, which is known as “over-twisted,”. Because of the he yarn biases as it is knit! You will be able to see the effect begin to take place as you knit and once you block it you can use pins to make the scarf extra pointy.
I hope this helps and let me know if you have any further questions!
Warmly,
Marilla
I have started this maybe a hundred times. My transition from purl to knit is beautiful and the transition from knit to purl is ugly, misshapen and loose. I’ve tried pulling extra tight on that stitch & it just doesn’t work nicely. I worked about 4″ & blocked (which helped but it still wasn’t satisfactory) And hints?
Hi Jonni,
Thanks for reaching out! With the nature of this yarn, smooth transitions can be a big challenging especially if your gauge between knits and purls differs a little. This is the case for a vast amount of us knitters. With this scarf, the yarn can take quite a severe blocking and we have found that this helps quite a bit with smoothing the transition between knit and purl.
I hope that this helps!
Cassy
I would like to make this as an ascot, with the ends crossing or perhaps tying over once in the front. How many cones would your recommend I purchase? Thank you.
Hi Franne,
Thanks for reaching out! To make sure you have enough for a knot, I would suggest purchasing 4 cones of Wool Crepe. If it turns out that you don’t need the fourth cone, you can return it for store credit – our full return policy is located here.
Happy knitting!
Julianna
I’m interested in knitting the Open Air Wrap, a pattern I found on your website. I’m wondering where to get the Wool Crepe yarn. I don’t see it in your store and Habu has 2 choices, N-90 Chubby Wool Crepe and N-89 Wool Crepe. I’m unable to determine if one of those is the yarn used in this pattern.
Can you help?
Hi Jacque,
Thanks for reaching out! Are you looking to knit our Open Air Wrap, or the Bias Stripe Wrap above? Our Open Air Wrap calls for Habu Silk Wrap Paper N-94 which we do still carry, but unfortunately we no longer carry the Habu Wool Crepe we used for our Bias Stripe Wrap. We don’t have a substitute for it because this wrap relies on the over-twisted nature of the Wool Crepe for the bias effect, but if you are able to find it, we used the N-89 Wool Crepe.
I hope that helps, and happy knitting!
Julianna
Could you knit the 120 stitches in the round to make a cowl, alternating knit 20, purl 20? Would you get the same biased effect?
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for writing in! That should leave you with a similar affect to this scarf!
All the best,
Gianna
I wanted to make this scarf but no yarn is listed. I got on the Habu textile page and found a wool yarn that looks identical except it says n-66 linen stainless steel not wool crepe. The pattern also calls for 6 cones but the yardage on the habu page suggests much higher. Help! (And thank you!)
Hi Mendy,
Thanks for reaching out. The yarn we used for this project is Habu’s Wool Crepe, and unfortunately, it looks like Habu is no longer making this yarn. We’re so sorry about that! However, I was able to find it on Ravelry, so you may have some luck buying it from someone on that website!
All the best,
Lili