A Bevy of Shawls: Not Your Granny's Shawl

Having completed the complicated Bridgewater shawl, last April, I was certainly ready for something quicker and easier. When I saw the release of the eBook What Would Madame Defarge Knit?, nothing would do but to make one of the Flatland crocheted triangle shawls. I thought it would be nicest if I used a self-striping yarn with long repeats, so I found some Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock on sale at Webs, and ordered two balls, with the intention of making a large dramatic shawl.


I decided that updating to a more contemporary colourway with the yarn, as well as using a glossier single ply yarn, would update the design and keep it from looking like a huge granny square shawl, like your own granny would have made.

Of course we all know how quick crochet is, so despite restarting a couple of times and completely changing the stitch employed in the pattern, I was still done the first ball of yarn by the fourth day, and ultimately decided not to use the second ball, as it seemed to be large enough for my plan, which was a cute little crocheted neck scarf.


In the end, it still sort of looks like a huge granny square, but I still like it. After a severe blocking, the fabric is quite crisp, and I've worn it a fair bit. I like how it looks, sort of retro, sort of not. And for only four days' work, who could complain?

Still Casting On

"I can resist anything except temptation."
Oscar Wilde

The other day, as I was walking to work, I thought of what lovely weather we were (finally) having, and how nice it would be to have a new little project to work on as I walk to and fro in the sun. Once I got home, I grabbed up the two balls of Elann sock yarn I had waiting for just such an occasion. I cast on for my go-to Universal Toe-Up Sock, with my usual 3:1 ratio for a striped sock. As you can see, I really shook things up, this time, by making the darker colour the background, with the lighter colour for toe/heel/cuff/stripes. I know, crazy, right? They are flying off the needles -- the first one is past the halfway point, already -- and then I guess I will pick a slightly more challenging pattern for my next pair of walking socks.


In the meantime, I have made some more progress on the little crocheted hexagons. I haven't even made much of a dent in my sock yarn leftovers, and I already have a couple dozen of these little guys done. Not nearly enough to make a blanket, of course, since each one is only a few inches across, but still, a nice start. They are so squishy and soft and colourful -- makes me so happy to look at that bright little stack!

On Infidelity

Before knitting took over my life, I used to have a lot of hobbies -- I used to read a lot more, and you know, even leave the house from time to time. I also spent a lot of time and money on a lot of different crafts: I embroidered and cross-stitched and made Japanese temari balls and sewed a lot of clothes and tried out paper quilling... You name it, I tried it. One thing that I never really took to was crochet.

It's not that I have an inherent bias against crochet -- okay, yeah, I do. It's not stretchy like knitting, which I find is usually a detriment. There are occasions where the stability would be preferable (if you don't see what I mean, just try to knit a corset) but generally I like my projects to have a little give. That, and I've never really learned it beyond the very basics.

So what happened to me, lately? I seem to have caught a crochet bug this week.


I have been sitting on lots of leftover sock yarn (as I'm sure every sock knitter does) and trying to decide what to do with it. I looked at a lot of little projects and various sock blankets on Ravelry, but for some reason the one that really appealed to me was little crocheted hexagons. Maybe it's the hexagon thing: after all, I am only making thousands of them for a quilt -- what's a few hundred more?

I began with a few from some of the leftover orange and brown yarn from the Fisherman socks.


Then I pulled out some leftover Koigu from my Lindsay socks.

I think I like them. I will continue making them, anyway. They are such a quick little thing (maybe 5 minutes a piece?) that it's easy to squeeze one in, if I don't have time for a repeat or two of knitting.


Then I found a really cute pattern for square shell coasters. Since I was already crocheting the hexagons, why not try this on some leftover hemp yarn I had? It is a little sloppy because of my uneven tension (I finally figured out how to tension the yarn without getting finger cramps -- on the next-to-last round) but I think it's still pretty cute. It's a bit big for a coaster, maybe, at about 5ish inches across, but works well for my big mug of iced coffee, this afternoon. Maybe with a little practice, they will even out enough to use them as gifts for someone, sometime.

Or maybe I'll get distracted right away by some more lovely knitting.

Belated Updates

Once again, a week has gone by without a post... and once again, I've been busy, but haven't had much to show for it. Having finished my entrelac blankie, I immediately picked up another one I've been meaning to get around to. This one is a whole-cloth quilt, which basically means that you use one whole piece of fabric for the top, rather than little pieces joined together to make a design.
Some of them are all white, with the quilting making the design (see here) while others use a patterned fabric and just quilt around parts of the pattern (here is one using so-called Cheater cloth, which is designed to look like patchwork fabric.) For mine, I chose a berry fabric and am quilting around some of the motifs. I'm about three-quarters done already.


I also made my first little amigurumi toy, as a gift for someone special. It is a ninja, from the book Creepy Cute Crochet. He is hiding amongst the DVDs, here, ready to leap out at a moment's notice. I have a bad habit of liking adorable little things and making them, knowing that little knickknacks just gather dust around here. Perhaps if I make them to give away, I can get my fix without my apartment getting any more crowded!

Lastly, I made a trip to the fabric store yesterday, to get fabric for a really sweet Hallowe'en costume. I am pretty much designing it from photo references, so hopefully I can pull it off. More on that as I make progress...