Skacel The Merry Stole Wrap Knitting Pattern

Skacel The Merry Stole: Elegant Lace Knit Wrap

What Is Being Made

The Merry Stole is a silky-smooth, elegant wrap designed by the Skacel design team. This lightweight shawl measures approximately 15" x 61" before blocking, making it an ideal travel companion that packs down small while providing comfortable layering. The piece is named after both the joyful feeling of wearing it and its cheerful colorway, combining practicality with refined style.

Knitting Techniques

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

• Lace Knitting: The stole features an intricate lace pattern that creates openwork throughout the piece. The lace motifs are achieved through strategic yarn overs and decreases that form decorative holes and textural interest.
• Seamless Construction: The stole is worked flat on circular needles without seaming, creating a continuous, polished finished product.
• Worked Flat: Rather than working in the round, this pattern is executed flat, allowing for edge shaping and controlled stitch placement across the width of the wrap.
• Blocking: Proper blocking is essential to this design. Steam or wet blocking using blocking wires and pins straightens the edges and opens the lace pattern fully, transforming the piece from its pre-blocked state to its finished elegance.

Stitches Used

The Merry Stole incorporates fundamental knitting stitches combined in strategic sequences to build the lace pattern:

• Knit (k): Basic knit stitches form the foundation of the fabric.
• Purl (p): Purl rows create texture and are used throughout, particularly in the set-up row and all wrong-side rows.
• Yarn Over (yo): Yarn overs create the characteristic openwork holes in the lace pattern and add decorative eyelets.
• Knit Two Together (k2tog): This right-leaning decrease is paired with yarn overs to form lace motifs and shape the stole.
• Slip, Knit, Pass Slipped Stitch Over (SKP): This left-leaning decrease balances the k2tog decreases and creates directional shaping within the lace pattern.
• Knit Three Together (k3tog): This double decrease creates more dramatic shaping and texture variation in specific pattern rows.
• Yarn Forward, Knit Two Together (YF-K2tog2x): This edge technique appears at the beginning of right-side rows, creating a finished selvage.
• Yarn Around, Knit Two Together (YA-K2tog2x): This complementary edge technique appears at the end of right-side rows for balanced shaping.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

Yarn: The featured yarn is HiKoo® Popcycle, a sustainable blend of 50% bamboo and 50% polyester from recycled plastic bottles. Each hank contains 305 yards and weighs 100 grams. The pattern calls for 3 hanks total, shown in color #3009 Merry, which gives the stole its characteristic cheerful appearance. This yarn choice provides the silky-smooth texture that defines the finished wrap.

Needles and Notions: The pattern requires addi® 3.75mm (approximately US 5) Rocket² [squared] circular needles in a 24" length. Circular needles are used despite flat construction, allowing for easier stitch management across the width. Additional notions include a tapestry needle for weaving in ends and blocking wires and pins (recommended) to properly set the lace pattern during finishing.

Gauge and Sizing

The stole is worked to a gauge of 20 stitches and 27 rows over 4 inches in the lace pattern before blocking. This gauge measurement is taken from the lace pattern itself, ensuring accurate sizing. The finished dimensions of approximately 15" x 61" before blocking will expand slightly during the blocking process as the lace pattern opens and the edges are straightened.

Pattern Structure

The Merry Stole begins with 78 stitches cast on loosely using the Long Tail Method, followed by a purl set-up row. The main pattern then develops through a series of right-side and wrong-side rows, with wrong-side