Prairie Wrap Reworked!

My favorite thing about knitting is that you can adapt almost any pattern to any yarn. I did just that at the Knit & Crochet show when we realized that the model made with Red Heart Boutique Treasure had been left behind! Luckily I had a pattern, the Prairie Wrap with me in my purse, I was planning on knitting it out of the called-for Washable Ewe. I pulled the pattern out and started to figure out what I needed to change to make the pattern work with Treasure.

SN0142PrairieWrap

Right away I knew I had to change the needle size, so I moved up from the recommended US 8 to a US 10 to better fit the loftier Treasure. I choose US 10 from the recommended gauge on Treasure's ball band. Since I only had one ball, I also had to plan on not following the pattern all the way through.

After going through the entire pattern repeat once, I had to guess how much more of the pattern I could complete with the remaining yarn. I started repeating the pattern, but only got about through row 14. When I stopped and measured the wingspan of the wrap- it was 51 inches wide. Since the original was supposed to be 49 inches wide, I decided that mine was big enough (I was also worried about running out of yarn!) I bound off and had just enough left to do a border of single crochet around the two short sides of the wrap.

I wore it the next day and really loved how soft the yarn was! When I got home I blocked it, which helped show the pattern stitch better and stopped it from curling as much. The wrap turned out lovely, and I've worn it to the office a few times since the show, it's my new favorite piece of knitting!

So you see, it's no big deal to change the pattern a little bit to better fit the yarn you have! Just check your gauge to make sure you'll like the finished look before you start your project!