Pattern Scout
Cuatro Wrap: Geometry on the Go
Joji Locatelli’s Cuatro Wrap is the kind of geometry lesson knitters love.
Four triangles.
One parallelogram.
The triangles are knit separately, in convenient portable pieces. Each one is constructed the same way—we are going to get real good at that garter tab start.
The increases are regular and intuitive, with a spine stitch running down the center of the piece to keep them in line. The fun is in the changing stripes that vary in texture—garter or stockinette—and color. Four colors—there’s that number 4 again. Each triangle uses 2 of the 4 colors, and follows the same handy Triangle Table on page 11, which I’m planning to carry around with me so much that it would probably be a good idea to laminate it.
The big join-up comes at the end, when the edges of the triangles are arranged into parallelogram formation and grafted seamlessly together—we are going to get real good at grafting.
The finished wrap, sumptuous in scale, is even greater than the sum of its triangles—it’s the sleek and splashy, stylish sort of accessory that friends will try to wheedle off your back. Just say no—this one is for you!
The Yarn
The yarn is a big part of Cuatro’s magic. In our early conversations, Joji was crushing on Woolfolk’s Tov DK, and that was all we needed to hear. It’s a lustrous and extraordinarily soft merino, with the perfect swingy drape for this wrap. We brought in the full palette, so you can pick your four Cuatro colors here. Whether you go high contrast or tonal, there are no wrong answers; any combination will make a beautiful wrap.
But sometimes a knitter wants an easy decision, so we’ve also put together Cuatro Wrap Bundles in three fetching colorways:
Original: the dramatic black and white scheme Joji chose for the photography sample.
Cadenza: earthy and metallic.
Rhapsody: for the blue lovers.
Big Fun Ahead
Our Grace knitalong begins October 10, and—surprise!—my first project is going to be the Cuatro Wrap, in the Rhapsody colorway. I am, after all, a blue lover. We hope you’ll join us for some fine fall knitting with Joji.
We Zoomed with Joji!
Look for the recording link in this Saturday’s Snippets.
What a beautiful piece of knitting – but I can’t help wondering. Do ordinary people really wear shawls? I never see anyone wearing one and I don’t have any occasion to wear one.
I’m an “ordinary” person and wear shawls all the time: church, movie, visiting friends. Just enough warmth to put the chill away.
I see shawls and wraps all over NYC, worn all sorts of ways. I wonder if it’s because there is so much walking to be done here— shawls and wraps make it easy to adjust to the temperature as you go about your day. They are particularly handy for pandemic-era outdoor dining.
I love knitting them (so many great patterns out there including this new Joji one) & wearing them all year round but confess I switch to very light wt woven ones in summer I’ve bought. My favorite type is an asymmetrical shape, easy to wear as a shawl or scarf.
As for “not having the occasion to wear one,” a shawl is perfectly acceptable for the office, dinner at your favorite local restaurant, walking the dog or going to the grocery, for that matter. It doesn’t call for a special occasion.
What is an “ordinary person?” I am pretty darn ordinary, average-looking approaching retirement, etc… but I wear shawls often, and have since I was young. It is an absolute MYTH that one must be a tall, slender model to rock a shawl. Just choose a style and shape that flatters YOU and experiment with different ways to wear it. For your first shawl, choose a color that will coordinate with the main color of your wardrobe, or choose a neutral that compliments your skin tone. Not everyone looks great in beige neutrals, but charcoal grey flatters many people, and good ole denim blue works as a neutral, too.
I wear them often. The big ones often instead of a jacket, and they can be more formal as well.
I wear them! I’m wrapped in one as soon as cool weather hits and grudgingly put them away when true Spring -in the South- comes back.
I think a lot more women would wear them but dont have the nerve and might get that nerve when they see us out there wearing them.
But at the least, knit up something pretty and snuggle around your house all winter in style.
I don’t think of them as shawls in the Jemima Puddleduck vein—to me, they’re a swath of color and texture that most often ends up as a big scarf, sometimes over a coat in winter or wrapped around my neck.
I wear them all year round! Mostly wool for winter, but I have a few lacy cotton ones for cool summer evenings or AC. Wrapped around for neck warmth under a coat, or instead of a coat. Over my neck and legs while lounging on the sofa. And I’ve knit them for both my nieces, so they’re multigenerational! Plus they are SO fun to knit….
I always had one in the office and sometimes I wear one while watching tv on the sofa in the winter. And yes I will wear one in cooler weather.
Any thoughts so far on adjusting this for those up us who are vertically challenged? Hope to tuned for today’s session.
Two options, either three triangles— which will be a trapezoid instead of a parallelogram or make the triangles smaller, which would be simple enough in this pattern. I’m not talk either but I love a big wrap.
Maybe do it in fingering weight yarn on smaller needles?
Make it a Tres Wrap (three instead of four triangles)! It should measure 78″ instead of 104″.
I wear them in the AC here in FL. I love knitting them so I find ways to wear them, especially here in winter.
We are in Seminole County; shawls are perfect for cold restaurants, movie theaters, stores.
Grandchildren like to wrap themselves in them when sleepy.
Ir’s beautiful; and great tv/conference knitting. However, it is veryvery long (104″ length) and thus not great for us petite wearers. Any ideas on how to shorten? leave out rows? Fingering weight yarn will make it narrower and desirably I’d like to keep the width.
Any suggestions for how to shorten the length would be appreciated.
It’s super easy to make the triangles smaller, which would decrease the width of the shawl. Stay tuned for a post, because someone we know has already done that. Making it shorter is even easier, you just knit one fewer triangle. I’m not very tall but I’m making the full size one because I know the way I wear this shape of shawl is folded in half, with the ends pulled through the fold.
In our Zoom this afternoon, Joji pointed out that if you knit the triangles smaller (which just means stopping sooner, no other change to the directions), it results in a narrower width and also a shorter length!
Thanks Kay for both comments. Very, very helpful.
I sometimes like shawls better than sweaters because I get better temperature control. I have one at my office all the time.
This is a great geometry lover pattern… triangles of overlapping colour combos working their way into paralelogramsnand a super wrap – gotta work on the evennes of my garter…
Life, it’s what happens when you have made other plans, or something like that! Love you Joji, so sorry I had to miss you!
I have never been in a knit along before but I’m going to change that with this beautiful project and blue is always my favorite color although black is more practical…such big decisions 🙂
Hmmmnm, so love this and am so determined to figure out a way to make it seamless, just because that is what I do, as often as possible.
By grafting, do you mean Kitchner?
The pattern does call for Kitchener, but I did a 3 needle bind off, and I think it looks fine.