1227 Joshua Tree - Shawl Knitting Pattern for Women in Valley Yarns Charlemont

Pattern #1227 Joshua Tree – Striped Slip-Stitch Wrap Knitting Pattern by Susan Baron

The Joshua Tree wrap is a knitting pattern designed by Susan Baron and published by Valley Yarns. It is a stylish, lightweight, and drapey wrap or shawl intended for women, sized as a generous one-size-fits-all piece measuring 14½ inches wide and 66 inches long, excluding the decorative self-fringe. Rated as an Easy skill level, this is an ideal project for beginner and intermediate knitters looking for a satisfying, wearable accessory that works up quickly and delivers a polished, eye-catching result.

What Is Being Made

The finished object is a long, rectangular wrap or shawl featuring bold color-blocked stripes and a beautiful self-fringe finish at each short end. The wrap is soft and drapey in drape and silhouette, making it versatile enough to wear over a summer outfit on a cool evening or as a stylish layer in an air-conditioned environment. The fringe is not added separately — it is cleverly created from the fabric itself during finishing, giving the piece a cohesive, intentional look.

Yarn and Materials

The pattern calls for Valley Yarns Charlemont, a luxurious 4-ply fingering-weight yarn with a fiber composition of 60% Fine Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Silk, and 20% Polyamide. Each hank contains 100g / 439 yards. The blend of merino, silk, and polyamide gives the wrap its characteristic softness, subtle sheen, and excellent drape, while the superwash treatment and polyamide content add durability and ease of care.

Three colorways of Valley Yarns Charlemont are used:

• Color A – Mulberry: 2 hanks (the primary, dominant color)
• Color B – Natural: 1 hank
• Color C – Black: 1 hank

Additional materials required include stitch markers and a tapestry needle for finishing.

Needles

The pattern requires a US size 7 (4.5 mm) 40-inch circular needle, or the size needed to achieve gauge. Despite being a circular needle, the wrap is not knitted in the traditional round-in-the-round sense for a tube — the circular needle accommodates the large stitch count comfortably.

Gauge

Gauge is 32 stitches and 22 rounds = 4 inches in the slip-stitch stripe pattern, measured after blocking. Achieving accurate gauge is important for hitting the finished dimensions of the wrap.

Techniques Used

This pattern employs several interesting construction and stitch techniques that make it both beginner-friendly and structurally clever:

• Seamless / Worked in the Round: The wrap is cast on and worked in the round, creating a tube of fabric. This seamless construction is what enables the self-fringe finish.
• Slip-Stitch Stripe Pattern: The body of the wrap is worked in a slip-stitch stripe pattern, which uses multiple colors to create a textured, woven-looking stripe effect. Slip-stitch colorwork is a beginner-friendly technique because only one color is worked per row or round at a time — stitches from previous rounds are simply slipped rather than knitted, allowing the colors to interlock visually without the complexity of stranded colorwork.
• Stripes: The three colors — Mulberry, Natural, and Black — are worked in stripes throughout the body of the wrap, creating a bold, graphic aesthetic.
• Long-Tail Cast-On: The pattern specifies the Long-Tail Cast-On technique for casting on the initial 424 stitches. A useful tip is included for managing the tail length by using both ends of a center-pull ball.
• Garter Stitch Borders: The first and last 20 stitches of each round are knitted every round to create garter stitch