Crochet Shawl – Pattern Review

In the UK its the middle of the summer a perfect time to start thinking about making beautiful crocheted things for autumn and winter.  Its seems a bit crazy to be thinking about winter just now but for me personally I need the time and creative space to make things whilst I continue in my bid to learn as I go. I wrote a pattern review for a Debbie Bliss Shawl I made at the beginning of this year, it was very popular post so I’ve decided to share this one too. I hope you like it and want to embark on the pattern yourself.   I am in the middle of making a a series of crocheted shawls or wraps to extend my repertoire and to understand how I start to design more things for myself. They are in hot demand with my family and friends, there will be something on the blog later this summer for you to try out.

Back to this pattern. Stash Buster Stripes by Laura Strutt aka Made Peachy from the book Modern Crocheted Shawls and Wraps is a great pattern if you are learning to crochet and you want to progress to something slightly more complex and larger to gain more confidence.  Don’t be put off by the size once you get going it actually works up pretty fast.

Here is my finished version beautifully modeled by my sister.

I  have worn it a few times on chilly days and to a couple of outdoor evening events when its been a little cool. If you live in the UK you will know that summer evenings are not hot, except on rare occasions. It has been perfect for a late summer evening  with my husband enjoying the last of the light relaxing after a busy week at work.

On my crochet journey I want to learn as much as possible, I don’t like to purchase patterns but after making this beautiful shawl in my own colours I had to buy this book. It’s available on Amazon at a very reasonable price.  I highly recommend it, its easy to follow and  has some very enticing images to encourage you to make something from the book.  All of the patterns have a one, two or three star rating so you can choose were to start.  This one is a two star, I found it very straightforward to make and there are lots of different styles to try out.  I have my eye on two more patterns from the book they are the Walled Garden and Woodland Colours patterns.  I really, really want to play around with the crocodile stitch the Woodland Colours pattern will certainly make me an expert in the stitch. That said they will both test my skill and staying power to make bigger crochet items as I do find that I flag halfway through a big project and get a bit bored. Trying out new stuff all the time is really important to keep my interest and motivation going and it helps my creative side think of other ideas for my own patterns.

This pattern was brilliant for working out the stitch repetitions, growing the shawl with increases at both ends and trying out new stitches.

My advice is to watch the pattern at the start and end of each row make sure you’ve understood the increase at each end or you get a curl going on at the ends.  Once you are into the colour changes its a pain to frog (unpick) your work and redo it so check each time that its correct if you are not sure re do your stitches it will be worth it in the end.

My other tip is to think about what type of hook you use. I use an Addi Swing crochet hook, they are a little expensive but I have had a couple of operations on my right wrist and value my hands as a result. The cost of the hook is worth it to save my wrist.  They are very comfortable to use especially for a big project, you don’t get a squished finger from holding the hook to hard.  The best thing about them are when you need to do a stitch that needs some even repeating length, because you have a short metal shaft you can do really even puff stitches as you can use the whole of the length of the shaft each time making each loop and each puff stitch the same size. They are great for solomon’s knot too. You can buy them from Lovecrochet.

Here is the link to the Made peachy Stash Buster shawl pattern – Press Here.  Made Peachy has lots of other great stuff on her website so do please go have a look. There are some amazing craft ideas and other great stuff for you.

I used the following colours all from the  Stylecraft Aran Special acrylic yarn range which can be purchased from lovecrochet.

Colour A – 1402 Camel 3 balls 100g 196m

Colour B – 1005 Cream  1 ball 100g 196m

Colour C – 1709 Gold 1 ball 100g 196m

Colour D – 1029 Copper 1 ball 100g 196m

Colour E – 1065 Meadow 1 ball 100g 196m

Colour F – 1027 Khaki 1 ball 100g 196m

I love the original choice of colours for this shawl and I love the colours I choose for my version. Have the courage to choose your own colours and really make this shawl your own.