Last year, I participated in my first mystery knit along by Stephen West and I had so much fun. The MKAL is usually in October so, to prepare, I set out to finish out all of my WIPs. I finished the Nightshift Shawl a couple weeks ago and now I’ve just finished the Overthrow Wrap. Keep reading for my experience knitting this wrap:
OVERTHROW WRAP
The Overthrow Wrap by Joji Locatelli is a beautiful large wrap that is inspired by a leaf. It uses different stitch patterns striped throughout the entire wrap with a center contrast color through the middle and framing each section.
I found this wrap on Ravelry by searching for a shawl/wrap that used brioche and more than 3 colors. I really liked how this wrap looked and how it used mohair throughout. The colors in the sample were super pretty and I loved how the different stitch patterns helped to transition the fade.
YARN
I used the yarn recommended in the pattern by Walk Collection in a pink to purple range. I chose:
Fire Lily
Summer Sorbet
Windflower
Vivid Violet
Flieder
And for the contrast color vein throughout the wrap, I used one skein of Denali Sock in the color, Prowl, from Explorer Knits + Fibers.
I used my swift and winder to create center-pull balls for this project. The mohair is held double, so I chose to work from the outside and inside of each ball. I prefer center-pull yarn balls anyway, and usually knit from the center to prevent the ball from rolling around. I did the same with the sock yarn, knitting from the center and then also inside/outside in the required sections.
I was a little nervous to get started knitting the Overthrow Wrap because I thought the yarn would be super silky and difficult to manage. This yarn from Walk Collection felt more grippy than other mohair I’ve used in the past, and it was really nice to work with especially with the two strands held together.
CAST ON
The Overthrow Wrap uses US 6 (4mm) needles. I cast on using my Chiaogoo interchangeable needles and a 37″ cable. This shawl starts out small, increases on both sides to a certain point, and then only increases on one side until the end.
When I started the wrap, I noticed that my center vein appeared a little inconsistent. The stitches started out looking like normal stockinette, but as I progressed, they appear to be looser and spiraling. I decided to rip back and start over, being mindful to wrap the yarns in the back the same way each time for a more consistent look. Even though my center vein gives more spiral vibes, it looks intentional and it’s more uniform than before.
INTARSIA + SECTIONS 1-3
I am pretty sure that knitting this vein in its own color just in the center section, and not carrying it all throughout the work makes it intarsia. I’ve been interested in intarsia projects but never tried before this. The pattern doesn’t explicitly call this intarsia, so maybe it’s not enough to count. Even though this was such a small section of the overall project, I could see how important yarn management is in keeping organized, and maintaining good tension.
Set Up + Contrast Stripe Call Out
It took me some time to get comfortable managing the center yarn. The setup section is garter stitch, and the center vein contrast color is stockinette. I carried my color 1 mohair along the back of the work, and kind of wrapped/twisted it with each contrast stitch. I found that wrapping the main color with each contrast stitch gave an even “join” so there were no gaps between colors.
Following the garter section is a contrast color vein/stripe. You only hold one strand of the contrast color (not held double like the mohair). When I knit the contrast stripe, I used the outside of my contrast color’s ball, keeping the center pull end attached to the center vein.
The contrast stripes were probably the most difficult part of the entire wrap because I was using a center-pull ball and it would get slightly tangled with the main color(s) each row. I think that having two smaller balls made up from the contrast skein (like the pattern mentions) would make these rows a lot easier. I continued with the center-pull ball because I didn’t want to cut my yarn unless it was absolutely necessary.
Section 1
Section 1 is a stockinette section with some shaping on the right side. This section created a nice pop against the contrast stripe and the previous garter section. As I approached the end of this section, I insert a lifeline into my needles just in case I had an issue with the next section’s brioche.
Another contrast stripe comes after the stockinette section, and I was really liking how it was coming together. I love the look of Fire Lily (main) against the Prowl (contrast) color and the different stitch patterns. Each section is a nice width so you knit the section and get to progress to the next one pretty quickly at first.
Section 2 + Pattern Issue
With the brioche section, I was really excited to incorporate a new color. My second mohair color, Summer Sorbet, looked very similar to my color 1, Fire Lily and the contrast between the two isn’t as obvious.
I really enjoyed this section. Two color brioche is one of my favorites and one of the reasons I decided to knit this wrap. It was nice to get into a familiar groove and see a new color incorporated. The pattern has a brioche decrease that I wasn’t familiar with — Brk3tog. The description in the pattern was good, but I wanted to see a tutorial to be sure. This one was linked in the pattern:
It’s basically a BrLsl, but for the right side. As a test, I tried a BrRsl instead of the Brk3tog, and it definitely had a different look. The Brk3tog is really pretty and clean in this pattern.
Pattern Issue
The brioche section ends with another stripe of contrast color. Throughout the entire wrap, I had an issue with the pattern for the first contrast row. After the M1L, my stitches read (brk1, k1) to the last 2 stitches, but the pattern said I should have had (k1, brk1). I think it’s a pattern error, or I guess it could just be me consistently making the exact same mistake each time.
It wasn’t a major issue for me though since the result was the same. But if I was a little less experienced at brioche, I think I might have gotten tripped up, expecting a k1 and finding a brk1, and maybe would have tried to rip it back and fix my error.
Section 3
The third section takes you back to garter stitch using the new mohair color. It’s a nice break from the brioche and keeps the momentum going with a new color/stitch.
REPEATS + COLOR CHANGES
This wrap just repeats the same three sections, dropping the old color and bringing in the next. Even though the pattern is a little repetitive, it never felt boring.
Color Changes
As I progressed into my third color, I started to build up a good momentum. Part of what slowed me down in the beginning was dealing with the center vein and wrapping my yarns. But the longer and longer rows made the center stitches less frequent and less of an issue for me.
I also got a lot better at managing the center color as the wrap grew. It’s only a few stitches, but in the beginning, I was having to detangle every row. By the start of the third color, I started just moving the entire CC ball when ever I need to wrap; that way it never even had the chance to get tangled.
TAKING A BREAK
I took a break from this shawl while I was working on my Scrapbuster Satchel and my pastel green Fantastitch. I was still enjoying the wrap, but I was just looking for a change.
COMING BACK TO THE OVERTHROW WRAP
I decided to focus up and finish out all my languishing WIPs in preparation for the upcoming Westknits MKAL. I wanted to have all projects complete so I could really enjoy the newly announced Twist & Turns Shawl.
Cables + Life Lines
I moved up to a 50″ cable to make it more comfortable to fully spread the Overthrow Wrap out as I moved in to the fourth color. You could probably stick with a 30/37″ cable the entire time.
I really like my interchangeable needles because I have basically any combination of needles/cables I could ever need. It’s super easy to swap out cables, and the cables have a small hole that you can feed a life line through.
I used life lines either in the stockinette section or the following contrast stripe to protect my progress before starting the brioche. I never needed to drop back down in this project, but I was happy to have the safety net.
Markers + Stitch Counts
As my shawl grew, I used stitch markers on the left side to help me track stitch counts. It was way more convenient to just work the pattern from memory and then count the new increases since my last stitch marker once I thought I was nearing the end of a section.
Yardage Concerns + Pattern Completion
I was nervous for the fourth color sections because the pattern says you’ll need every single yard of it. I didn’t want to run out of yarn, but I ended up being able to complete the section with 3g left over.
The fifth color isn’t a full repeat which I didn’t realize at first. So it was a nice surprise to be even closer to completing my project. I considered doing an additional section of stockinette, but I was happy with the look of just the garter and decided to end it as written.
Once I moved into the last section, I cut the contrast color with a few yards of tail. I wrapped it into a small ball and continued the pattern as normal. It was much easier to manage the center vein with only a small ball of the contrast color.
I used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy bind off and then washed/blocked before weaving in my ends. I used two sets of blocking mats with these knit blockers with multiple pins. They were so convenient in blocking this wrap, because of their size and multiple pin configurations.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I really enjoyed working on this wrap. The pattern was well-written and mostly clear. My main issue with the pattern is that it didn’t provide any stitch counts for the multiple repeats. The first pattern repeat had very clear stitch totals — and even a breakdown about how many stitches should be before and after the different stitch markers. But you were on your own for any stitch counts on subsequent repeats.
I would have liked to see a table with stitch counts for all the repeats, or a little redundancy in the pattern. For example, The Nightshift Shawl that I recently completed had section repeats that said something like, “Section 7: Repeat section 3. (400sts).” It wasn’t a super huge deal, but I like for my pattern to do all the counts for me.
I think my finished wrap is beautiful. I loved knitting the different sections and even working the contrast stripe. The colors are so pretty and I’m really proud because I chose them on my own. I learned a lot about my yarn management and I think I could tackle a legit intarsia project in the future.
Check out my Ravelry page to see more pictures of my Overthrow Wrap and my other finished projects.
