Anatomy of a Wrap

I wrap stitches a little differently than most knitters.

You might notice that the technique illustrated below is rather a hairsplitting one.  But I bring it to you because I use it in several different contexts, and its utility is not commonly known.  I figured it was about time I documented it. 


Here is the classic way to wrap a stitch:

1. With working yarn in back (shown here in pink), slip a stitch from L to R needle.

2. Bring the working yarn to the front, and around the slipped stitch.

3. Slip the stitch back from R to L needle and bring the yarn to the back again.

Voila, the stitch is wrapped.

Straightforward enough.  Here's how I do it.

1. Reverse yarnover.

2. Slip a stitch from L to R needle.

3. Pick up the YO with the tip of the L needle, and pull it up and over the slipped st and off the R needle.

4. Voila, the stitch is wrapped.

Did you see the key difference in the resulting wrapped stitches?

Image A shows what results from the traditional way of wrapping stitches: your working yarn is coiled around your wrapped stitch like a spring, with the tail of the working yarn, shown here in light pink, emerging from the top of the coil.

Whereas, Image B shows what results from how I wrap a stitch: the working yarn emerges from underneath itself, like a loop cast on turned on its side.

It's a subtle difference, yes, but my method makes a neater result because the wrap can't creep up the sides of its stitch when the fabric is under stress. It is this little difference in structure that makes Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bindoff so elastic, and gives my reinforced "Eye of Ra" buttonhole its tidy edge.

P.S. Almost forgot!  Above applies to how I wrap a knit stitch, because the yarn starts and ends in the back.  When wrapping a purl stitch, the yarn starts and ends in the front, so it works a little differently.  This is why, in JSSBO, you do a reverse yarnover for knit stitches and a regular yarnover for purl stitches.

Here's what happens.  Purl sts are shown in darker grey.

1. Yarnover the usual way, and bring yarn to front of work.

2.  Slip a stitch from L to R needle.

3. Pick up the YO with the tip of the L needle, and pull it up and over the slipped st and off the R needle.

4. Voila, the stitch is wrapped.

Here's how it looks close up: