I have been slowly moving all my boxes of yarn back into the house now that the building work here is coming to an end. It has been such fun to rediscover lots of my favourite yarns and projects.  It’s also inspired me to do some stash busting…

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I came across two balls of Drops Alpaca and with nothing more than an urge to crochet I began a granny triangle. I was thinking maybe I’d have enough to make a mini shawl for Lulu’s dressing up box. However, the more I crocheted the more I found myself enjoying working on my lovely soft triangle. It occurred to me that this would in fact make a perfect shawl/scarf for me 😉 So in complete opposition to the spirit of stash busting I ordered more yarn! I picked out a couple of colours that called to me and spent a couple more happy evenings crocheting my shawl.

I am in love with it, it’s simplicity, its softness and the comfort I found in making it.   I have shared the details of the yarn colours and amounts I used below, along with a small tutorial for starting a granny shawl. There are lots of lovely free patterns on the Internet for these if you’d prefer a full pattern, but this is the way I make mine. It’s a perfect project for beginners and I’ve used it in past workshops with great success. I don’t put chain spaces between my clusters but if you like your granny pieces to be more holey, gapey, gappy (what’s the term? I’m having brain fog!) then simply add a chain 1 space between each cluster. Similarly for this shawl I worked 3 chain stitches as the centre point (as I like the middle to be a bit more defined) but you can work 2 or even 1 chain stitch – its just personal preference really.

It turns out a shawl can be a tricky thing to photograph, particularly if you do not want your photo taken wearing said shawl….sigh. I haven’t even blocked it yet, eager as I was to stick it around my neck.

Crochet Granny Shawl.

Use any yarn and appropriate crochet hook. For the tutorial below I have used acrylic aran and a 5mm hook (shop my favourites here). The shawl is worked in turned rows, so at the end of each row you will turn your work before starting the next row. I have put step-by-step instructions (in UK terms) with accompanying photos below but if you don’t need them I have popped a shortened pattern at the bottom of the post.

Foundation: Chain 5 and join with a slip stitch to create a ring.

Row 1: Chain 3 (this counts as your first Treble Crochet or US Double Crochet), 3 treble crochet into the ring, chain 3, 4 treble crochet into the ring. Turn work.

Row 2: Chain 3 (counts as 1 treble crochet/US double), work 3 treble crochet (US double crochet) into the space between the first and second treble crochet of row below, work: {3 treble crochet, 3 chain, 3 treble crochet} into the chain-3 space at the centre of the triangle, work 3 treble crochet into the space between the last two treble crochet of the row below, work 1 treble crochet into the top of the ch-3 of the row below, turn.

Row 3: Chain 3 (counts as 1 treble crochet/US double), 3 treble crochet into the space between the first and second treble crochet below, 3 treble crochet into the space between clusters, {3 treble crochet, 3 chain, 3 treble crochet} into the chain-3 space at the centre of the triangle, 3 treble crochet in the space between clusters, 3 treble crochet into the space between the last two treble crochet of the row below, work 1 treble crochet into the top of the ch-3 of the row below, turn.

Continue your shawl by repeating row 3: working the beginning and end of rows as above, 3 treble crochet into the space between each cluster and {3 treble crochet, 3 chain, 3 treble crochet} into the centre chain-3 space.

Written Pattern:

Foundation: 5ch join with sl st, 3ch, turn.

Row 1: 3ch, working into ring, 3tr, 3ch, 4tr, turn.

Row 2: 3ch, 3tr into sp btw 1^st and 2^nd tr below, (3tr, 3ch, 3tr) into ch-3 sp, 3tr in sp btw last two tr, 1tr into top of ch-3, turn.

Row 3: 3ch, 3tr into sp btw 1^st and 2^nd tr below, 3tr btw clusters, (3tr, 3ch, 3tr) into ch-3 sp, 3tr btw clusters, 3tr in sp btw last two tr, 1tr into top of ch-3, turn. Sew in ends.

For my shawl I used Drops Alpaca and a 3mm hook in the colours

0100 off white – 3 x 50g balls

9020 Light Grey Peal Mix – 1 x 50g ball

8120 Denim Green Mix – 1 x 50g ball

Rows 1-45 off white

Rows 46-47 grey

Rows 48-50 off white

Rows 51-52 blue

Rows 53-54 grey

Rows 55-57 blue

Row 58 off white

I finished by working a row of double crochet in blue.

I think I may be developing a love for crocheting shawls as since I made this I have already completed another and I already have an urge to crochet more…

Bye for now. Em x

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