Thursday, August 25, 2011

Summer Giveaway: Vegan Knitted Wraps

What do you say--better late than never? Finally, the summer giveaway is happening.

(The giveaway rules are at the end of the post. As usual, the more you help spread the word, the more entries you get in the drawing.)

This year the annual summer giveaway features the first two of a series of wraps I made last month with the assistance of a trusty knitting machine. The knitting machine can be meditative and stress reducing only after you spend countless stressful hours learning how to use it. Underscore the word countless! Thankfully I took those classes last winter. They really helped.



This first wrap is knit from a 100% acrylic bouclé thread. It was a straightforward project which only required hand manipulation in creating the long columns of dropped stitches.



Since each column of stitches is formed by a different latch hook, you can go across a row and release the stitches from your selected hooks and then tug on the fabric to drop the stitches in that column. You want to do this every 10-20 rows to make it easier to unravel the column.


This wrap is six feet long and 16 inches wide. It is light and breezy. Perfect for a late summer or early autumn evening.

The next wrap in the giveaway was my second project in the series. Having previously hand knit a fine silk bouclé Clapotis and having spent an ungodly number of hours at it, I was wondering if I could make a passably similar item on the machine in less time.

This is the result:


This is a bias-knit dropped stitch wrap created out of a loose 3-ply 100% rayon yarn. It has crêpe texture and beautiful drape. It is 70 inches long and 13 inches wide. It works well both as a wrap and as an oversized scarf.


This yummy wrap took more hand manipulation on the machine because it required you to not only drop stitches, but also to increase and/or decrease on each edge every other row. (EOR in machine knitting parlance.)


A difference between this item and a hand-knit Clapotis is that in the original design by Kate Gilbert, you twist the knit stitches on either side of the dropped stitch. This helps keep the stitches on either side of the drop column from migrating into the drop space. One would never ever twist all those stitches by hand on the machine because it would defeat the whole purpose of making it in this time-saving way.

I was able to make this in 7-8 hours--a 90% savings of invested time, so the heck with those twisted stitches. Oh, and I blocked it, which I might not have done with wool, but the rayon cried for it.

One of these vegan wraps could be yours if you:

  • Leave a comment below. Be sure to say which of the two items is your favorite in case your name is drawn first. If your name is drawn second, you might receive the other one.
  • Tell me in your comment that you are a blog follower for a second entry in the drawing.
  • Tweet about the giveaway, post about it on Facebook, or do a blog post about it and link back to this post and tell me in the comments for additional entries.
I'll draw the winning entries on Labor Day. Good luck!

11 comments:

susie said...

Thank you so much for this generous give away. Both pieces are beautiful, but I really love the purply color on your version of the Clapotis. I also follow your blog. Thanks again, wishing you a wonderful week.

moonlitfantaseas said...

d to say which is my favorite! I do love them both, but I love the color of the first one, and the texture of the second one.....so if I won it wouldn't matter which one I got, I would love either one...I am a follower

~ Cee ~ said...

Both are gorgeous, but I'd have to say purple is my favorite! But either one would be absolutely perfect!
cee
ceevegnashville [at] gmail [dot] com

Mae Barraclough said...

Hi Sharon, gorgeous pieces, and congrats on learning the ways of the knitting machine :) I LOVE LOVE LOVE the teal wrap. That is my color all the way. Will post to facebook!

cara said...

Such beautiful wraps, I like the teal blue wrap the best, if I won I would wear this to my brothers wedding and feel very glamorous.

lorraine said...

wow what an amazing giveaway! i love the color of the first shawl..gorgeous! raineoc@yahoo.com

lorraine said...

im following your blog :) raineoc@yahoo.com

Napiligal said...

Wow, who knew machine knit could make a clapotis? Both are very lovely. Would be honored to have either one. The purple would be my first choice.
I now follow your blog and posted on my FB wall
Yvonne Miller

Anonymous said...

Both of those are STUNNING! Altho the teal one is screaming to be wrapped around my shoulders! Thank so much for the great give-a-way!!
MissHSoo on Rav <3

Inthesky said...

Both of your Give Away prizes are beautiful :)

Teacosy said...

die sind aber sehr schön, ich würde mich über eines davon freuen.
They are beautiful I`d love to win one of those prices.
happy knitting Sylvia