Classic Elite Yarns Color Block Bias Wrap Knitting Pattern

Classic Elite Yarns Color Block Bias Wrap

What Is Being Made

The Color Block Bias Wrap is a versatile knitted wrap designed by Suzanne Shaw that showcases bold graphic color blocking through strategic yarn changes. This wrap measures approximately 18 inches wide by 72 inches long when laid straight, making it suitable for multiple styling options. The design is intentionally flexible—it can be scrunched into a compact scarf for everyday wear or worn at full width for a dramatic, maximum-impact statement piece. The wrap works equally well for day or evening occasions, offering both functionality and visual interest through its color transitions.

Techniques Used

This wrap employs several key knitting techniques to achieve its distinctive appearance and structure:

• Bottom-Up Construction: The wrap is worked from the bottom upward, beginning with a small cast-on of just 3 stitches
• Seamless Knitting: The entire piece is worked as one continuous, seamless garment with no seams to join
• Worked Flat: Despite being seamless, the wrap is constructed flat on straight needles rather than in the round, allowing for the directional stripe and color-block effects
• Bias Construction: The wrap is worked on the bias, which creates the angled, dynamic visual effect that gives the piece its name and distinctive drape
• Striping Through Color Changes: Bold horizontal stripes are created by changing yarn colors at strategic points, with the designer alternating between three coordinated colorways
• Increases and Decreases: The wrap features three distinct sections—an increase section that builds from the initial 3 stitches, a straight section that maintains stitch count while color blocks are established, and a decrease section that tapers the wrap back down to a single stitch for finishing

Stitches Used

The Color Block Bias Wrap utilizes fundamental knitting stitches executed with precision:

• Stockinette Stitch (St st): The primary stitch throughout the entire wrap, creating a smooth, classic fabric with a defined right side and reverse side
• Slip Stitches: The first stitch of every row is slipped—slipped knitwise with yarn in back on right-side rows (sl1kwyib) and slipped purlwise with yarn in front on wrong-side rows (sl1pwyif)—to create neat, finished edges
• Knit Front and Back (kfb): Used in the increase section to add stitches and build width from the narrow cast-on
• Make One Left (m1L): An invisible increase worked by inserting the left needle under the horizontal strand between stitches from front to back, then knitting through the back loop
• Make One Right (m1R): A mirror increase worked by inserting the left needle under the horizontal strand from back to front, then knitting through the front loop
• Decrease Stitches (ssk and k2tog): Slip-slip-knit and knit-two-together decreases are used to shape the wrap, particularly in the decrease section where stitches are systematically reduced
• Purl Stitches: Used on wrong-side rows to maintain stockinette stitch pattern
• Purl Three Together (p3tog): A triple decrease used in the final rows to close the wrap

Materials

The Color Block Bias Wrap is designed to showcase the beautiful qualities of a premium yarn blend:

• Yarn: Chalet by Classic Elite Yarns, a luxurious blend of 70% baby alpaca and 30% bamboo. This fiber combination provides softness, breathability, and a subtle sheen. Each 50-gram hank yields 98 yards of yarn. The project requires 2 hanks each of three coordinated colorways: A – 7403 Steel (a neutral steel tone), B – 7475 Slate (a medium gray-blue), and C – 7477 Charcoal (a deep, dark tone). The total yardage needed is approximately 588 yards across all six hanks
• Needles: US size 13 (9 mm) knitting needles, or the size required to achieve the specified gauge. Straight needles are used for flat, back-and-forth knitting
• Gauge: 10 stitches and 16 rows equal 4 inches in stock