Forest Wrap Part 1

Last Friday I wrote about being so inspired by Nakia's shawl in the new Black Panther movie.  Since then a lot of information has come out to help those who want to try reproducing it!  Jeff Gillies, the designer/knitter, very generously made a PDF of information on yarns and stitches used and the whole layout.  Jeff is a machine knitter so these don't translate exactly into hand knitting, but are a great start.  You can find the information here.  And he added explanations on the wrapped and reversed stitches on this forum here.

I started out desparately wanting that exact shawl!  Then, in searching for information on how to reproduce it, I found a Ravelry group started by Tracey Maniluwhua-Rivers - a very positive and inspiring woman who has been using the Black Panther Movie Inspired Shawl Designs group to encourage those interested to create their own shawl/wrap patterns that are meaningful to them personally.  I took a good, long look at the original shawl and realized it wasn't the stitches that drew me to it (although there are some I really like), it was the colors - greens, browns, forest colors.  Since I live in a forest and am surrounded by these colors every day, I decided to make my wrap a forest-inspired one.

So here's what I've come up with so far!  I started out with Malabrigo Arroyo in Crispas in a 10 x 5 wide rib and then decided to add eyelets to break up the ribbing a bit.  After casting on 150 stitches on size 6 needles, I worked in the straight ribbing for about 2.5 inches.  For the next row I worked an eyelet row as follows:  *knit 5, yarn over, knit two together, knit 3, purl 5* - repeat to the end of the row.  The next three rows were worked in straight ribbing, I repeated an eyelet row, then three straight ribbing rows, and a third eyelet row.  

Next, I worked about .75 inches of straight ribbing and worked a different eyelet row - knit 5, yo, knit2tog, knit 3, *purl 5, knit 10, knit 5, yo, knit2tog, knit 3*, repeat to the end of the row.  This gives you one eyelet every other knit 10 ribbing section.

After another .75 of straight ribbing, I worked another section of three eyelets to mirror the first section, and finished with about 2.5 inches of straight ribbing.

Now I'm working on adding in the next yarns, Shibui Knits Twig in Fjord and Madelinetosh Dandelion in Antique Lace held together.

I have to say this this wrap is soooooooo much fun!  Find your favorite colors, choose some favorite or brand new stitches and start on one!  And if you need inspiration, join the Black Panther Movie Inspired Shawl Designs group - there is some amazing work being done there.

Happy Creating!  Deborah