Shibui Knits Bonneville Wrap Knitting Pattern

Shibui Knits Bonneville Lace Wrap

What Is Being Made

The Shibui Knits Bonneville is a sophisticated lace wrap designed as a long, rectangular shawl measuring 20 inches wide by 88 inches long when blocked. This versatile accessory combines elegant lace patterning with a generous length, making it suitable for draping around the shoulders or wearing as a traditional wrap. The design is worked seamlessly from bottom to top, creating a continuous piece without seams.

Techniques Used

This wrap employs several key knitting techniques to achieve its refined aesthetic:

• Bottom-Up Construction: The wrap is cast on with a small number of stitches and gradually increased in width as you progress upward, allowing the lace pattern to develop organically from the foundation.
• Seamless, Flat Construction: Worked flat on circular needles without joining, eliminating the need for seaming and maintaining clean edges throughout.
• Lace Patterning: The wrap features a repeating lace motif that incorporates yarn overs and decreases to create an open, airy fabric with visual interest and drape.
• Strategic Shaping: Increases are worked at the edges using front-loop increases (k1fb and p1fb) while the interior maintains the lace repeat, creating a balanced triangular or rectangular silhouette.
• Specialty Bind-Off: The pattern concludes with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, a specialized finishing technique that provides flexibility and prevents the edge from becoming too tight.

Stitches Used

The Bonneville incorporates fundamental lace and shaping stitches:

• Knit (k) and Purl (p): Basic stitches forming the foundation of the fabric.
• Front-Loop Increases (k1fb, p1fb): Used for edge shaping, these increases are worked by knitting or purling into the front and back of the same stitch.
• Make One Increases (M1, pM1o): The M1 and pM1o (purl Make One) stitches create yarn overs and increases within the lace pattern rows, forming the characteristic open work.
• Slip, Slip, Purl Decrease (ssp): A left-leaning decrease used on wrong-side rows to shape the edges while maintaining pattern consistency.
• Yarn Overs: Essential to lace construction, creating the decorative holes and openness characteristic of the wrap's design.

Materials and Gauge

The Bonneville requires approximately 750 yards of DK weight yarn. The pattern suggests Shibui Knits Vine, a luxurious blend composed of 41% paper, 31% cotton, and 28% silk, with a yardage of 160 yards per 30-gram skein. Five skeins of Vine are needed to complete the project, and the wrap is photographed in the Bone colorway.

Knitting is worked on US 9 circular needles measuring 32 inches in length. The gauge is 13 stitches and 15 rows over 4 inches in the stitch pattern before blocking. Blocking wires and T-pins are optional but recommended for achieving the finished dimensions and enhancing the lace definition.

Pattern Construction Details

The wrap begins with a Long-Tail cast-on of just 3 stitches, establishing a minimal foundation. Three set-up rows gradually increase the stitch count to 5 stitches, preparing the needle for the main lace pattern. The primary lace rows then repeat in a two-row cycle: a wrong-side row featuring decreases and purl increases, followed by a right-side row with knit increases and the lace repeat. This rhythmic pattern continues until the top edge reaches approximately 85 inches from the cast-on edge, at which point all stitches are bound off using the stretchy bind-off method to complete the project.