Grace Wrapper // Grown
Photo Cred: Erica B. Studio + Design
If this is the first time you are hearing about Grown, check out this post from yesterday for all the details about the book and how you can order your copy! Mary Joy Gumayagay did the graphic design for the book and I still can’t believe how incredible it all looks.
Today I wanted to begin talking about the individual designs in the book and I decided to start with Grace Wrapper because it is one of my favorites and also because it happens to be the very first piece that I knit up for the collection. It just made sense. Grace was knit with the very scrumptious YOTH Yarns Big Sister. It is soft and heavenly and the colors are exquisite.
Grace was inspired by an adorable ballet style wrap from my New Girl set last year, called Petite Wrapper.
Obviously they are both wraps, ha! Both designs are worked from the top down with raglan-style seamless sleeves. But other than that there are quite a few differences between these two sweaters. This was true for a lot of the new versions-I really did not set out to “simply” upsize for Grown, I wanted to make sure that the new versions were made for adults and would fit and flatter us appropriately.
One difference is the detailing at the cuff. Instead of the cutesy little pindot colorwork, I featured a bouquet style bobble on Grace. It keeps the design very clean and elegant but also gives it an original twist.
The finishing of this sweater features an i-cord bind off instead of the picot bind off that was in the baby version. I love the picot bind off but it seemed a bit much alongside the bouquet trim.
The wrap itself is what ultimately gave me a little trouble. I redid it several times to make it just so. Each wrap is picked up and worked from a vertical edge of the sweater front. The wrap itself is gently shaped so that it narrows gradually as it encircles. One wrap is longer than the other so that it ties off to one side in the front and criss crosses just perfectly in the back.
After making a lot of adjustments in the knitting of the wrap itself I finally got it the way I wanted and blocked it. I moved on to a couple of other things that were also included in our first photoshoot. But the week before the shoot when we tried it on the model something was still just not sitting quite right with me about how the wrap would lay on top of the sweater on one side, where one wrap had to come out from underneath the side of the sweater and the other crossed over it (don’t even try to picture this in your mind, not worth the effort). Despite assurances from the stylist and photographer that it looked great and “that’s what wraps do” I decided about 2 hours before the photo shoot that I had to make an adjustment. #livinontheedge
I decided that what needed to happen was for there to be an opening in the side so that everything would lay perfectly flat. I have never steeked before. Never. So not only did I decide to make this drastic decision with zero time to spare…I was also trying a technique for the very first time and it was the kind of technique where there is no going back. I wanted you to know this primarily because I really, really don’t want you to be scared to knit this wrap because of the steek. It is the very last part of the instructions and is noted as optional. You might very well decide that it is totally unnecessary once you try on your sweater! But if you decide to do it, please don’t be nervous! The book not only gives written instructions for the steek but it also provides direct links to three great online tutorials that show you what to do in photos and illustrations. If it will be your first steek ever, you might consider approaching it a little more safely than I did and practice on a swatch once before on your sweater. Then again, my way worked out exactly as I wanted!
If you like Grace, I hope you will hop on over to check out the book and pre-order your copy today! The pre-order package is truly a wonderful value and part of it is getting the e-book right away so that you can get something on your needles as soon as you pick out your yarn.
Keep your eyes on the Blog Tour because later this week, you will have an opportunity to hear what YOTH Yarns has to say about Grace and also maybe a chance to win a little something…
