Splashy Flowers Shawl

Before I get to part 2 of the shibori dyeing, I wanted to post the shawl I finished this week. It's based on the Splashy Flowers Scarf from Kathy Merrick's Crochet in Color. The shawl in the book is made from Noro Silk Garden. I made it from Lion Brand Amazing, which has similar long colour shifts, but is fuzzier, less expensive (!), & is supposedly machine-washable. This part worried me a bit, because usually machine-washable yarn doesn't block well, but I wanted to try anyway. Fortunately, it blocked just fine :)

shawl blocking after a soak in the dishpan & a spin in the washer

I turned it from scarf to shawl by adding one more set of motifs, making it 5 large motifs across (including side motifs) and 4 small across, to fill in the gaps. I used a K/10.5/6.5mm hook as well. It ended-up about 72"x18", 5 large motifs across & 14 large motifs long, which works fine for a shawl. It took me 4 days to make it. The only other change I made was to begin each motif with a magic circle, which is often used in Japanese crochet. I'm not fond of crocheting into the first chain to make circles- don't like how it looks- so I prefer this method, although it takes longer to tighten up the ring of yarn (especially with fuzzy yarn). There were loads of ends, too, but I worked them in as I went, so when I was done with the last motif, I was done with the whole shawl, except for blocking, & that doesn't happen very often.

shawl in progress- you can see the gaps where the small motifs fill in

Colour-wise, I had 1 skein each of a bunch of colourways of Amazing sitting around (which was what really inspired this project- yarn looking for something to become) so I used 3 different colourways (Ruby, Wildflower, & Aurora) for all of the large motifs. I decided that making all of the small motifs in one colourway would look best, so I used Rainforest- it stays some shade of green throughout, which pulled the other colours together nicely I think.

It turned out really well- soft, fuzzy, drapey, & fun to wear. I liked making this project a lot, but it may end up as a gift, because what I really want to make from these motifs is a poncho. So, I have more Amazing in the house, & after a bit of a break, I'm ready to give it a go. Stay tuned...