This is the free pattern for my 2017 festival booth at the Garden State Sheep Breeders festival.

A deep-V wrap in basic two-color brioche ribbing with a simple color change for interest and bound-off with interlocked crochet-chains. The 4st stockinette neck edge rolls into a mock Icord edging. The piece is approximately 26in deep at the point and 58in wide and is very stretchy.

The reversed color border is calculated by a percentage of the total yarn (reverse color when 50% remaining), as is the amount of yarn to hold back for binding off (bind off when 8% remaining). I use a scale as the fastest and easiest way to do this. It is easy to make the piece bigger or smaller with more or less yarn, changing color as desired, as long as at least 8% of each color is reserved for binding off.

Stitches used: knit, purl, working multiple stitches together including k2tog and p2tog, yarn over (in both directions), working stitches so their legs cross, slipping stitches, chain stitch (crochet). Each color is worked one at a time in the body of the piece. One alternates between the two colors while binding off. The pattern begins with a stockinette tab start from a provisional cast-on.

A circular knitting needle is necessary even though the piece is worked flat. The work is repeatedly pushed back to the same needle tip to be worked across again, so it requires a needle tip on both ends. It also becomes very, very wide. If you want to use only one needle then 32in is the absolute shortest I would use for the whole piece although 40in is easier once the piece gets larger. If you have the option of interchangeable needles, I recommend working the tab start and first few rows on just the tips before attaching the cord.

LAYOUT and PRINTING

There are two versions; they are identical except for their layout.

If you want to print the whole document and fold it over like a booklet, use the one marked “foldover”. It is meant to be printed on both sides of an 8.5x11 sheet of paper, but is out of order if you read it off a screen.

If you want to read it off a screen or print out only one side of the instructions, use the one marked “sequential”. In this layout, the logo, materials, key, tab start, and setup rows are on one sheet, while the main pattern repeat and everything you need to finish the project is on the other sheet.

PORTIONING THE YARN

To portion center-pull yarn cakes by weight ahead of time, weigh each colorway and calculate 50% and 8% of each. If you know one colorway has considerably less yardage than the other, you can measure and mark just the smaller skein.

Carefully grasp the middle portion of the ball by inserting your thumb into the center-pull hole and inserting a finger into the layers of the ball, estimating about half. Firmly wiggle out the middle as a “mini” ball.

Using the scale, distribute the yarn until both portions are equal. Tie a firm slip knot at the mid-point between both halves to mark the spot and then rewind any loose yarn to neaten up the halves.

From the second half of both colorways, pull 8% of that colorway from the end to reserve for binding off. Tie a slip knot to mark that section and then neaten it back up as well. Always work from full units for your scale, and calculate any fractional units in favor of the border and bind off portions. So, if the skein is 95g use 8g as 8%.

So, for two 100g skeins, they will each be sectioned and used in this order: 50g (main color dominant body), 42g (contrast color dominant border), 8g (binding off). For two 113g skeins: 56g, 47g, 10g.