I’ve finishing one repeat of the 186-row stripe pattern of the Earth Stripe wrap. Since it’s Fibre Friday, this is the perfect opportunity to show you the work in progress.

I was a bit worried about “wasting” that handpainted green yarn, because I thought its variations would be lost when it was knit with another colour. It’s not, though. First of all, it shimmers a bit more than the other KSH, so you can pick out where that yarn has been used. And secondly, the variation is visible. Look at this detail:

The variation is really visible in the band where the handpainted green is knit with the dark brown KSH (Bark).

I didn’t worry much gauge for this project, and it turns out that I don’t have gauge. Gauge on the pattern on 4mm needles is 24 stitches and 28 rows to four inches. My gauge on those needles is 20 sts to 4 inches and 30 rows. I’m not sure what I would have done to achieve gauge, actually—if I went down a needle size to get the stitch gauge (probably 3.5mm needles would have done it) I would have put the row gauge even further out of whack. It probably would have increased to 32 or even 34 rows in four inches. It doesn’t really matter with a garment like this—what’s important is that I like the fabric being created. I wouldn’t want it to be any more dense than it is.

Different gauge, though, does affect the finished size. My wrap is 57cm wide instead of the 49cm width expected by the pattern. This is fine by me, but also means I’m using more yarn per repeat than the test knitter did.

The first complete repeat of my wrap measures 65 cm or 25.5 inches in length. This means that to get the finished length of 149 cm or 58.5 inches specified by the pattern, I’ll need to knit one more full repeat plus a little extra. Since I’m leaving off the fringe, I think I’ll plan for three complete repeats. That will make it close to 80 inches long. I will have to buy more yarn, though, to do that. Before finishing the first repeat of the stripe pattern, I had to begin the second ball of Majestic. I have three, so to finish three repeats, I’ll need a bit of a fourth ball. I’ll wait until I finish the second repeat before I buy that ball, though, in case I need other colours, too.

I really like the beads, because they both shimmer and play a little bit of hide-and-seek.

What do you think?