SweetGeorgia Litr?kur Wrap Knitting Pattern

SweetGeorgia Litrúkur: Bias-Knit Rectangular Stole

What Is Being Made

The Litrúkur is a bias-knit rectangular stole designed by Tabetha Hedrick for SweetGeorgia Yarns. This versatile wrap measures 21 ½ inches by 69 ½ inches when finished, making it an ideal accessory for year-round wear. The rectangular shape and generous dimensions provide styling flexibility, whether worn as a shawl, wrap, or statement piece. The stole combines bold, contrasting colorwork with textural elements to create a decadent yet approachable knitting project.

Techniques Used

This pattern employs several key knitting techniques to achieve its distinctive appearance and construction:

• Bias knitting: The stole is worked on the bias, meaning stitches are increased and decreased strategically to create the diagonal orientation. This technique produces a naturally elegant drape and adds visual interest to the finished piece.
• Bottom-up construction: The stole is worked from the bottom edge upward, allowing knitters to try on and adjust length as needed before binding off.
• Lace patterning: Subtle lace elements are incorporated throughout, featuring yarn overs and decreases that create openwork sections without overwhelming the design. The lace pattern is balanced with solid garter stitch sections for textural contrast.
• Striping: The pattern uses three distinct yarn colors—Beach House (main color), Mango Ice (contrast color 1), and Coral Rose (contrast color 2)—worked in stripes to create bold color blocking and visual impact.
• Worked flat: The entire stole is worked flat on straight needles in rows rather than in the round, making it accessible to knitters of all experience levels.

Stitches Used

The Litrúkur pattern incorporates a range of fundamental and intermediate knitting stitches:

• Garter stitch: The primary stitch throughout most of the pattern, created by knitting every row. This produces a squishy, reversible fabric with excellent drape and texture.
• Lace stitches: The pattern includes yarn overs (yo) paired with decreases to create openwork sections. Common decrease stitches in the lace pattern include knit two together (k2tog), slip-slip-knit (ssk), and slip-2-knit-1-pass-slipped-stitches-over (s2kp), which is a centered double decrease.
• Increase stitches: Multiple increase methods are used to shape the bias construction, including knit into the front and back (kfb) for single increases and knit into the front, back, and front again (kfbf) for double increases. These shaping increases are worked at strategic points to maintain the bias orientation.
• Purl stitches: Purled stitches are used selectively within the lace pattern to create definition and separate pattern sections.

Materials: Yarn and Needles

The Litrúkur pattern calls for specific materials to achieve the intended finished dimensions and fabric characteristics:

• Yarn: SweetGeorgia Yarns Superwash Tough Love Sock in three colorways—one skein each of Beach House (main color), Mango Ice (contrast color 1), and Coral Rose (contrast color 2). Each skein contains 425 yards and weighs 4 ounces (115 grams). The yarn composition is 80% superwash merino and 20% nylon, providing durability, softness, and excellent stitch definition. The nylon content adds strength and resilience, making this yarn suitable for a frequently worn accessory.
• Needles: Size 6 US (4 mm) needles are recommended. The pattern notes that needle size may be adjusted if necessary to obtain the correct gauge, though exact gauge is not critical. Changes to needle size will affect the final dimensions and yardage requirements.
• Notions: A yarn needle is required for weaving in ends after blocking.

Gauge and Finishing

The pattern provides two gauge measurements to account for the different stitch patterns used. In striped garter stitch, the gauge is 18 stitches and 27 rows over 4 inches (10 cm) when blocked. In the lace pattern, the gauge is 18 stitches and 26 rows over 4 inches (10 cm) when blocked. While the pattern notes that