Valley Yarns Takama Wrap Knitting Pattern

Valley Yarns Takama Wrap

What Is Being Made

The Takama Wrap is a warm and flowing bias-knit wrap designed by Kirsten Hipsky. This finished garment measures 24 inches wide and 52 inches long, making it an ideal accessory for layering and warmth. The wrap features subtle knit and purl welts that travel across the fabric, creating visual texture and interest throughout the piece.

Techniques Used

This wrap is constructed using several key knitting techniques that make it suitable for advanced beginners:

• Bottom-up construction: The wrap is worked from the cast-on edge upward to the desired finished length.
• Seamless, worked flat: The entire wrap is created in one continuous piece on circular needles without requiring seaming, though it is worked flat rather than in the round.
• Bias knitting: The wrap is worked on the bias, which creates the characteristic diagonal flow and drape of the finished garment.
• Increases and decreases: Strategic use of yarn-over increases (m1) and decreases (k2tog and p2tog) shape the wrap while maintaining stitch count and creating the bias effect.

Stitches Used

The Takama Wrap employs a limited but effective stitch vocabulary:

• Knit stitch (K): The fundamental stitch used throughout the pattern.
• Purl stitch (P): Combined with knit stitches to create the subtle welts and textured pattern.
• Knit two together (k2tog): A right-leaning decrease used to shape the wrap.
• Purl two together (p2tog): A decrease worked in purl to maintain pattern consistency.
• Make one (m1): An increase created by knitting into the back of the strand running between needles, used to balance the decreases.
• Stockinette stitch: Referenced for gauge purposes, though the main pattern alternates knit and purl stitches in a repeating sequence.

The stitch pattern repeats over four rows, with rows alternating between knit and purl combinations that create the welted texture characteristic of this design.

Materials

The Takama Wrap requires specific materials to achieve the intended drape and warmth:

• Yarn: 10 skeins of Valley Yarns Sunderland in Medium Gray. This yarn is composed of 100% baby alpaca, offering exceptional softness and warmth. Each skein contains 50 grams and provides 109 yards of yardage, for a total of approximately 1,090 yards.
• Needles: US size 8 (5.00mm) circular needles measuring 24 inches in length, or the size needed to achieve proper gauge.

Gauge and Sizing

Gauge is relatively flexible for this project. The stitch pattern gauge is approximately 24 stitches and 28 rows over 4 inches, though exact gauge is noted as not critically important. For reference, stockinette stitch at the recommended needle size yields approximately 20 stitches and 28 rows over 4 inches. The wrap is begun with a cast-on of 146 stitches and worked until it reaches 52 inches in length or the desired finished measurement.