Skipping Stones Shibori Wrap by Gina Wilde

Skipping Stones Shibori Wrap

Knitting
March 2015
Sport (12 wpi) ?
20 stitches and 32 rows = 4 inches
in Feather & Fan Pattern, prefelted
US 6 - 4.0 mm
561 yards (513 m)
Pre-felted appr. 45 ” length x 14” width Post-felted appr. 65” length x 13” width
English
This pattern is available for $7.00 USD buy it now

Skipping Stones Shibori Wrap blends five harmonious colors together in a simple feather & fan lace motif.
Combine three extraordinary Alchemy yarns ~ Silken Straw, Sparky and Sanctuary ~ with an easy intarsia technique, and a most unique texture is created.
The result in an elegantly colorful wrap, resplendent with gorgeous depth and dimension, made even more fabulous after a light felting.
The Sanctuary yarn (wool/silk blend) fuses lightly, while the Silken Straw & Sparky silk yarns relax and drape, to create an heirloom wrap to be long treasured.

A Word about the Special Technique of Shibori Knitting
While the Japanese word “shibori” cannot be directly translated into English, it basically denotes a “shape resist textile.” Most people are familiar with the concept of Tie Dye (originally called “tie and dye”), which is the most popular understanding of shibori. 3 Ties such as rubber bands or strings are secured on a piece of fabric, and then that fabric is dyed; the fabric resists the dye where it has been bound.

Gina Wilde’s shibori design is an exploration of manipulating knit fabric, harnessing the effects of working differing types of yarns together (combing felting and non-felting fibers in one knit piece). In this cowl, the pure silk yarns (A & B) act as a resist to the wool/silk felting yarn (yarn C). When felted in a washing machine, the silk yarns actually grow in the process, while the wool/silk blend shrinks and felts (or fulls). The result produces a textured and dramatic knit fabric, one that is light and airy, rather than the heavy dense fabric achieved when using traditional felting methods and yarns.