Breathless Wrap Knitting Pattern

Breathless Wrap in Juniper Moon Farm Herriot

What Is Being Made

The Breathless Wrap is a luxurious stole designed to be worn as a versatile layering piece. This rectangular wrap is worked end-to-end, creating a generous finished size of 15 inches wide by 64 inches long, making it suitable for draping elegantly around the shoulders or wearing as a traditional wrap. The design features two distinct cable patterns that run the length of the piece, creating visual interest and texture throughout.

Techniques Used

This intermediate-level knitting project employs several advanced techniques that add sophistication to the finished garment. The wrap is constructed using cable knitting, which involves crossing stitches over one another to create raised, twisted patterns. The piece is worked flat on circular needles rather than in the round, allowing the knitter to work back and forth across a large number of stitches without the bulk of traditional straight needles.

The pattern incorporates twisted stitches, where stitches are deliberately knit through the back loop to create contrasting lines within the lattice pattern. The design also uses slip-stitch selvage edges, where the first stitch of every row is slipped rather than worked, creating neat, finished edges on both sides of the wrap. Garter stitch borders frame the cable and lattice patterns on both edges, providing stability and a finished appearance.

Stitches Used

The Breathless Wrap features a sophisticated combination of stitch patterns:

• Stockinette Stitch: The base stitch used to establish gauge and create smooth fabric sections
• Garter Stitch: Used for the 4-stitch borders on each edge, creating a textured frame
• Plait Cable: A 1½-inch-wide cable pattern that appears on both sides of the wrap, creating elegant twisted columns
• Plaid Lattice: A complex pattern featuring multiple cable cross variations, including 1-over-1 front crosses, 1-over-1 back crosses, 1-over-1 front knit-purl crosses, 1-over-1 back knit-purl crosses, and 2-over-1 front crosses
• Twisted Stitches: Created by knitting through the back loop, these add textural contrast to the lattice pattern

The pattern uses a multiple of 14 stitches plus 2 stitches for the Plaid Lattice section, allowing for balanced pattern repeats across the width of the wrap.

Materials and Tools

The Breathless Wrap is crafted using Juniper Moon Farm Herriot yarn in color #1027 Crimson. The project requires 5 skeins of 100g each, providing ample yardage for the full 64-inch length. The yarn is worked at a gauge of 20 stitches and 28 rows per 4 inches in Stockinette stitch.

Essential tools include US Size 5 (3.75mm) circular needles measuring 24 inches long, which accommodate the 96 cast-on stitches while allowing the fabric to be worked flat. A cable needle is necessary for executing the cable crosses throughout both pattern sections. Additional notions include stitch markers to denote pattern sections, and a tapestry needle for weaving in yarn ends during finishing.

Pattern Construction and Finishing

The wrap begins with casting on 96 stitches and establishing the pattern sections with a setup row worked on the wrong side. The piece is constructed by working back and forth in the established patterns—maintaining the Garter stitch borders while working the Plait Cable and Plaid Lattice patterns in the center—until the wrap reaches its full length of approximately 64 inches. The final step involves binding off all stitches and blocking the completed wrap to the finished measurements of 15 inches by 64 inches, which sets the stitches and ensures the cables and lattice patterns display their full dimensional beauty.