Blue-green shawl - Design W388

I had 6 skeins of a Super Bulky yarn called Araucania Chacabuco Multy that I had no idea what to make with until I stumbled across a lovely pattern designed for use with the trendy ribbon yarns.  The picture on the pattern does not show what the actual shape of the shawl is but I decided to go with the flow and get on with it, starting work on 9th April.

The yarn is 100% Pima Cotton and crocheted up lovely using a 6.5mm crochet hook.

I finished making this on 15th April 2010 and it is huge, that is a standard 12" rule in the photo above and it will grow bigger when it is soaked and blocked.  I had to block it on my blocking boards and towels on the lounge floor, moving furniture out of the way to create a space big enough to lay it out.  I noticed that the yellow colour was only in the centre of the shawl, despite all the skeins being the same colour, and it reminded me of the moons reflection on water and the finished shawl is very big, very heavy and very dramatic.  The yarn is no longer manufactured.

Crocheted Lace Triangular Wrap - Design DK11

This design is published by Sirdar Spinning Ltd circa 2006 and recommends the use of Sirdar Duet yarn.  I got in touch with Sirdar about selling items that I make using their patterns and they advised me that as long as I don't mass produce then they have no problem with me selling what I make using their designs whatsoever.

I began crocheting this on 21st March using a 5.5mm crochet hook and Sirdar Duet in shade Chamois, a worsted weight yarn which is 56% Cotton/44% Nylon.  Its a lovely yarn to work with even though the shiny sections are very slippy.

The pattern is easy to get into once you understand how the motifs join together.  I love motif shawls but I hate yarn ends.  So many yarn ends.  I am sewing them in at the end of every row of motifs to avoid a big boring job at the end.  It makes it more bearable by breaking it down into smaller chunks.

The pattern says that 6 balls are required to make this shawl but I found that 5 would have been enough.  Rather than have 1 ball left over I decided to add an additional row of motifs, using up all of the yarn as the yarn is no longer manufactured.  I finished making this shawl on 8th April 2010, soaked and blocked it, which made it so much more smooth and uniform.  I have this yarn in blue, black, dark brown and white too.