Before you read anything else about this wrap, let me tell you that it’s knit entirely by joining as you go, so there are no seams and no sewing up in the whole thing. None. Not even once. Ok, onwards!

The D’aeki Wrap (pronounced day-kai) is so eye-catching …and yet deceptive in its simplicity. Created from layer upon layer of the smallest of building blocks -- each one so quick on its own but all of them together combining into an absolutely spectacular result -- it is the perfect project for SpaceCadet’s Mini-Skeins or any collection of colours that are just waiting for the right pattern to show themselves off!

And because each garter stitch block knits up so quickly, allowing you to move on to the next block (and a new colour!) in no time, it’s that perfect combination of both relaxing and yet endlessly interesting.

Featuring a herringbone pattern that effortlessly shifts the colour flow along the length of the piece and uses the Join As You Go method for knitting vertical sections together (without any sewing up at all!), the D’aeki Wrap creates an intriguing textural contrast, with one side beautifully smooth and the other showing off the lovely boxed effect of the picked-up stitches and joins.

Are there kits?

The D’aeki Wrap is designed especially for our Mini-Skein Club minis (and the adventurous club members who are on this colour journey with us!) so joining the club will build you a gorgeous gradient “kit” as you receive each monthly parcel, timed perfectly to create this epic project without feeling rushed or pressured. The sample shown here was knit in 2020’s colours and the Mini-Skein Club’s colours going forward are different, but equally beautiful.

This pattern is perfect for you if:

• You love playing with colour blocking but hate intarsia and seaming (there’s no intarsia and no sewing up at all in the whole project!)
• You have a wonderful collection of SpaceCadet Mini-Skeins that you’ve been dying to cast on! Or you have a collection of coordinating yarns or project scraps and you are confident about making colour-substitution choices.
• You love reversible knits that are not exactly the same on both sides.

This pattern is not for you if:

• You don’t already have the basic knitting skills listed below (there is a nifty video demonstration in the pattern of the Join As You Go technique, but no other basic knitting tutorials)
• You are using substitute yarns but struggle to put together a colour flow on your own.

Pattern Details

Size: Sample shawl is six blocks wide and 29 levels long, measuring approx. 21”/53cm x 63”/160cm.

Gauge: 28 stitches and 60 rows (or 30 ridges) over 4”/10cm of garter stitch

Suggested Yarns: SpaceCadet Ombre&Gradient Mix Mini-Skeins: sample knit with 6 bundles of Mini-Skeins (totaling 600g over 30 mini-skeins) containing:

• Celeste (100% Superwash Merino; 490 yards/100g)
• Ester (80% Superwash Merino, 20% Nylon; 365 yards/100g)
• Oriana (90% Superwash Merino, 10% Nylon; 420 yards/100g)

Needles: US 3/3.25mm or size to obtain gauge

Skills you’ll need to have in order to make the D’aeki Wrap:

• casting on and binding off
• knitting and purling
• picking up stitches along an edge
• slipping stitches purlwise
• knitting three stitches together
• three-needle bind off
• working a Join As You Go edge (if this is a technique you haven’t done before, it can be little tricky at first, but is actually incredibly easy once you get the hang of it -- and if you’d prefer to see it in action, the pattern includes a simple and quick video demonstration to help you see what to do)

ERRATA

The latest version of the pattern has a correction to the errata listed below:

page 6 - Next row (TS): using the third needle, PU 10 sl sts along the edge of Bl3 L1 at the inner corner where Bl2 & Bl3 of L1 meet, and then BO all sts using a three-needle BO and break the yarn.

With huge thanks to my assistant Jade, who knit this sample and helped me figure out which side was which! ♥