SHORT ROWS: PLAIN WRAPS

SHORT ROWS: PLAIN WRAPS
29 JANUARY 2007 BY ALICE CHAO

The plain wrap is a little loop around turning stitch and one of the most common. The instructions are usually something like “knit to blah, w&t”, with w&t not being instructions to partake in some awesome cocktail but rather shorthand for the instructions “wrap and turn”.

Very briefly, to work a plain wrap on the knit side of the work, knit to the stitch you wish to wrap. Bring the yarn to the front, slip the next stitch purlwise, bring the yarn between the needles from the front to the back again. Slip the stitch back to the left needle (see photo below). This the ‘wrap’ portion of w&t. Then you turn the work – needless to say, the ‘turn’ portion of w&t. This sets you up to work the purl side.

To work the wrap from the purl side, purl to the stitch you wish to wrap. Bring the yarn to the back, slip the next stitch purlwise, bring the yarn between the needles from the back to the front again. Slip the stitch back to the left needle. Turn. This sets you up to work the knit side.

Once all the stitches are wrapped, the wraps need to be worked to make them invisible. From the knit side, the first thing to do is reorient the stitch by slipping the wrapped stitch knitwise, then slipping it purlwise back to the left needle. This sets up the stitch to be knit through the back loop without twisting it. We’ll get to this in a sec.

Pick up the wrap with the right needle.

Then lift the wrap and place it to the left of the stitch it wrapped (behind it) (see photo). Knit the stitch and the wrap together through the back loop. To work the plain wrap from the purl side is a little simpler as there is no need to reorient the wrapped stitch. Lift the wrap with the right needle and place it to the left of the wrapped stitch (behind it again) and purl the stitch and the wrap together.

Once all the wraps are worked, the knit side looks like this (I’ve knit a few rows after working the wraps).

And the purl side looks like this:

These are great at closing holes but are fiddly to work – reorienting the stitch is annoying, picking up the wraps and placing them correctly is fiddly (wait till we get to the safety pins and Japanese short rows!). The back side is a little ugly and puffy too since the tension is hard to control when lifting the wraps- they end up rather loose compared to the stitch it wrapped and you can see this on the back of the fabric. Still, when working garter stitch short rows these are awesome as they blend in nicely with the fabric.