From the feel of the hot desert sun to the sight of the cholla cacti dotted all over the landscape, the inspiration for this triangular shawl design is the desert landscape in the US state of Arizona.

The branching structure of the fascinating cholla cacti is represented in this shawl by a twisted-stitch and eyelet pattern. The twisted stitches join and merge to build up a lattice pattern. The eyelet branches emerge from each lattice crossover. After the border pattern has been established with a stocking-stitch background, the stitch detail gradually changes to reverse stocking stitch for the shadow pattern. This subtle change in stitch pattern represents the shadows cast by the cholla on the surrounding desert land.