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Dear Kay,

A quick hello because I’m on the road right now. My hot tip for the sort of thing that suits a knitter who’s packing light?

This.

This is the Belinda Wrap, a design I cooked up a long time ago. I’ve worn it steadily as a scarf ever since—it’s 50% air, 50% halo, 100% indestructible.

Why This Is a Good Thing

Reason No. 1: Portable. You can pack all the yarn for this five-foot-long wrap in a wee Bento Bag. Four balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze, two each of two colors. It takes up so little space yet allows for so much knitting.

Reason No. 2: The yarn. Rowan Kidsilk Haze is celebrating its 20th anniversary right now, and it gets a great big “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” from me. Its blend of 70% mohair and 30% silk creates the ultimate halo yarn. It transforms a fabric when you carry it with a wool yarn—or any yarn, actually.

Here, in the Belinda Wrap, it’s knit on its own, and the filmy quality of the yarn shines.

Reason No. 3: The pattern. This design is great for travel, when you want to be able to stop and go without digging out a pattern.

It’s SSK, double yarnover, k2tog. Repeat. On the other side you p3, k1. Knit one rectangle, then pick up along the edge and knit a second one. You’ll want the full pattern, obviously. But it’s that simple. And when you block it, it all straightens out and looks amazing.

Reason No. 4: The colors. We carry 30 shades of Kidsilk Haze, and it’s the sort of inspired palette that allows for Belinda pairings all day long. I look at this image and see pairings that work no matter whether you’re aiming for close colors or high contrast.

I’ve started with Blue Poppy, a color I’m seeing all over the place. And I think I’ll go with Turquoise for the second color.

But now I’ve having second thoughts. Like, 28 second thoughts.

Love,

Ann

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14 Comments

  • I want to save this in my favorites. Should I be able to do that? I don’t see how. I recently got back from a trip to Norway (an Arne & Carlos cruise!) and I packed the wrong sort of knitting. This is a brilliant suggestion!

    • Hi Nancy,
      My sister and I are going on the Arne & Carlos cruise in February ’24. I would love to hear your thoughts on the cruise and what to bring. Thanks in advance for sharing. Best, suzanne

    • I was about to “helpfully” point out that you need to be logged in to your account…and then I realized that not only do I not see the usual save button anywhere either, but the link that says “here’s how to save this to your favorites with one click” (which I don’t see on this article but it’s there on contributor articles still) seems to be broken – I get a 404 message when I click it.

  • Eek! I want to save this article, too! Here’s hoping it’s just a glitch that will be corrected soon. I just checked the menu at My Account and my Favorites list is accessible there, so that part isn’t broken.

  • The pattern recommends 14″ straight needles and says “circular will work, but the cable slows down the knitting quite a bit” but it’s from 2008. So I’m assuming since circular needles have improved a lot since then, Ann wouldn’t say that now?! I don’t think it makes for a travel friendly project to be using 14″ straight needles.

    • Hi Elyse, I started this and am loving knitting it. I’m a fairly seasoned lace knitter and not a tight knitter and I’m working it on circulars and having no problems. I can see if one wasn’t used to knitting with Kidsilk Haze or was a newer or tighter knitter it may be difficult with the double yarn overs though, in which case straights would help mitigate the issues that might crop up with the double yarn overs.

      • Thanks, Elizabeth!

  • I love this pattern… ever since I read your book some many years ago. It’s high time I add it to my queue – Thank you for the reminder!!

  • Me too! I can’t figure out how to save articles either. I loved the “bookmark” feature.

  • What are the two colors that are shown in the pattern. Many colors and I’m sure any two would work but I like the ones used in the article & pattern.

    • Hi! The photos show Jelly and Trance.

  • Wouldn’t it be cool if you could select pairs of the Kidsilk yarn and pictures of a ball of each would appear side by side for easier comparison?

  • Good Evening, I’m thinking of knitting this wrap for my cousins wedding. Is this a complex pattern?

  • I love this pattern and bought the yarn forever ago to make one of these. Sadly, it has not happened, but one day it will.

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