A dramatic statement wrap inspired by the pinks and greens of a Japonica plant photographed during lockdown.

The bold and impactful stranded colourwork body of the wrap is knitted in the round from the bottom up, with steeking used throughout to aid the process. To stabilise the knitting and avoid twisting the stitches, the wrap begins with a Waste Yarn Provisional Cast On. This provides a stable base for the large number of stitches. Working yarn is then used to add steek stitches, before joining into the round to work the lower border. Once the lower border is complete, the waste yarn is carefully removed, and the provisionally cast on stitches transferred to a second needle. The steek is cut and the lower border is folded. The two sets of stitches are knitted together to form a hem. New steek stitches are cast on before working the main body of the wrap. When the main body is complete, a lifeline is added before working the upper border, which is folded and sewn to create a hem at the top of the wrap, to mirror the hem at the lower border. The steek stitches from the main body of the wrap are then reinforced and cut. Stitches are picked up and knitted along the front edge of one side of the steek and the resulting loops along the back of the same edge are picked up with a second needle. These loops are knitted with a third needle. The front and back of the steek sandwich are worked in the round, changing colours between the back and the front of the steek sandwich, knotting old and new colours together at the sides. This method neatly encloses and protects all cut edges and colour changes within the decorative stranded colourwork side border. This process is repeated for the other side. Each Steek Sandwich is finished with a Three Needle Bind Off.

Like all the designs in KNITSONIK & Friends: Colour to Knit, the pattern for the Japonica Wrap includes a wealth of enabling creative resources, including:

• An inspiring essay exploring the creative design process behind the wrap.
• Handy shading sequences for you to print out and colour-in, to assist you in recolouring the design.
• Colour, black and white and colour-your-own charts to suit a variety of approaches.

Japonica Wrap is published with inspiring notes and printable worksheets to colour-in as an aid to deciding which yarn shades to use. The creative process behind the design is offered alongside the pattern instructions to enable and encourage you to adapt this design to suit your own colour preferences.

This is the final design published in the eBook KNITSONIK & Friends: Colour to Knit which can be purchased here.