Berroco Tipperary Wrap Knitting Pattern

Berroco Tipperary Lace Shawl by Norah Gaughan

What is Being Made

The Tipperary is a crescent-shaped lace shawl worked from the top down in a seamless, flat construction. This intermediate-level knitting project creates an elegant wrap with finished dimensions of 63 inches in width and 33 inches in length, making it a versatile accessory suitable for layering or draping.

Techniques Used

This pattern employs several key knitting techniques to achieve its sophisticated design:

• Bottom-up construction: The shawl begins with a small cast-on and increases progressively throughout the pattern, allowing knitters to customize the final size by adjusting the number of repeats.
• Lace knitting: Charted lace patterns create openwork sections that define the shawl's elegant aesthetic and drape.
• Seamless, worked flat: The entire piece is worked on straight needles without seaming, maintaining clean edges and consistent tension throughout.
• Stitch increases: Strategic increases incorporated into the charted patterns expand the stitch count from 3 stitches at cast-on to 173 stitches at bind-off.

Stitches and Pattern Details

The Tipperary uses fundamental knitting stitches combined in charted lace patterns:

• Knit and purl stitches: Form the base fabric, with knit stitches on the right side and purl stitches on the wrong side.
• Yarn overs (yo): Create the lace openings and contribute to the shawl's decorative pattern repeats.
• Charted patterns: Two charts guide construction—Chart A establishes the foundation (rows 1-22, increasing to 29 stitches), while Chart B (rows 1-20) is repeated six times, with each repeat adding two additional 12-stitch pattern repeats and expanding the stitch count by 24 stitches per cycle.

Materials and Gauge

This pattern calls for Berroco Inca Tweed yarn in color 8915, requiring three 100-gram hanks for the complete shawl. Knitters use size 10 (6mm) needles or the size necessary to achieve the specified gauge. The pattern gauge is 11 stitches and 17 rows measured over 4 inches in the charted pattern. Stitch markers are optional but helpful for tracking pattern repeats. Accurate gauge is essential before beginning, as it ensures the finished shawl meets the intended dimensions and drapes properly.

Pattern Structure and Finishing

Construction begins with casting on 3 stitches and working through Chart A to establish 29 stitches, then progresses through six complete cycles of Chart B, ending with a final purl row before binding off knitwise. This straightforward progression makes the pattern accessible to intermediate knitters while producing a sophisticated finished piece. After binding off, finishing requires only weaving in ends, as the seamless construction eliminates additional assembly steps.