Tag Archives: Chris De Longpre

Wrapping me up

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Isn’t this a pretty thing? It’s Michigan’s own Chris de Longpre’s Wrap Me Up. Instead of knitting it with worsted weight, as the original pattern calls for, many knitters (me too) knit this sampler wrap in fingering weight sock yarn. In sock weight, my version of the wrap turned out to be 14 inches wide and 55 inches long. So, still quite substantial.

I started out with these three somewhat mismatched skeins of Opal sockweight. I got each skein on sale and I suspect they are all discontinued colorways:

And, this one, my favorite of the trio:

For each new section of the sampler, I tried to use a different skein. Sometimes the colorways needed to be butted up against the same colorway for at least part of a section.

Here’s a closer look at a few of the sections:


I find that some of my favorite projects are those that let me do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. In this pattern, all the sections are knit onto others as you move along. Except for one. That long section of stacked garter stitch triangles is knit separately and then worked onto the main piece with picked up stitches and the magic of mattress stitch.

My only modifications are that I knit section 4 in all one colorway. And I added bobbles to section 21, a narrow ending strip.

If I make this again, especially if I’m working with colorways that share some of the same colors, I’d not thread so many sections with the yarn you’re working with, as the pattern directs. I’d use waste yarn instead. The stitches tighten up some and picking them up to work with again was difficult at times.

The two long-side edgings are worked after the body of the wrap is blocked. This needed a very aggressive blocking and a few of the sections refused to be completely tamed. But I still like it!

One I made several years ago is a wrap I’ve gotten a lot of wear out of. Here’s a link to some closeups of the first one I knit back in 2010:

Wrap Me Up Scarf

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I am quite pleased with how this came out. It’s Chris (ChrisDL on Ravelry) DeLonpre’s “Wrap Me Up Shawl” rendered in Opal 6 ply sock yarn. This is a Knitting at Knoon pattern.  It’s knitted in 21 different sampler blocks, each with a different stitch pattern, plus edgings on the two long sides. I worked mine up in three different Opal colorways. Best of all for the finishing- averse, each block is knitted into the next. So there are quite a few places where stitches need to be picked up, but when you are done it’s off to blocking, on to the edging and “all done.” I like bobbles, so I added a row into the last garter stitch block.  Other than that, I pretty much followed the pattern.  With each block, I changed to a different ball. Between the color changes in the yarn, and each new block pulling you forward, it’s a quick, fun knit.

Criss-cross Stitch

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This is a very old friend. When I read the description of how it was done, I didn’t even recall this stitch. But then some kind of muscle memory took over and I remembered using it, long ago, in who knows what. It is a two row repeat, worked on an even number of stitches.  Row 1: knit 1, * slip one (as if to purl), knit one, pass slip stitch over (but leave it on the left needle and knit into the back of it) *, repeat from * to *, knit one. Row 2: *purl 2 together (don’t slip it off the left needle), purl again through the first stitch*, repeat from * to * across row.

What moved this stitch out of the memory banks and into my hands, is my current project: Chris de Longpre’s “Wrap Me Up.” This Knitting at Knoon pattern is great fun. It’s basically a stitch sampler shawl, with each new block knitted on to completed ones.  Block 13 is knitted in criss-cross stitch.  I’m using size 4 needles and three complementary colored variegated Opal 6 ply sock yarn.  Mine will be a scarf instead of a shawl.  Here’s how the criss-cross block knits up. Obviously, it’s the herringbone stitch on the right side:

There wasn’t much out on the net demonstrating this stitch. With Steve’s help, I’ve posted my first YouTube video. Some of it came out fairly nice. The audio is not too bad  The demo of the knit side works. As for the purl side–you’ll be able to follow it, despite my best efforts to keep ducking my knitting out of camera range. Who knew I purled with such rhythmic enthusiasm. Feel free to critique the video. If you haven’t yet tried this stitch, it creates a very firm fabric.  If you aren’t easily bored, a narrow strip of it could turn into a nifty necktie.

The video: