Garden Walk Shawl

I've just completed a new shawl, which will be available for sale on the Ravelry website beginning May 1, 2017.  This shawl is inspired by the "Pretty as a Peacock" shawl that placed second in the Thread category, in the 2016 CGOA design competition. The pattern is in a different weight yarn that is more quickly crocheted, and a bit easier for intermediate level crocheters.

I choose the Berroco Boboli Lace yarn after winning the yarn as a door prize at the CGOA conference.  I also received the pattern booklet that goes with the yarn, but was disappointed to find there were no crocheted garments available in that booklet for that yarn.  This particular color way was challenging to work with because I had concerns that it might compete with the stitch pattern I wanted to use.  The beauty of the Boboli Lace yarn is that it is available in so many color ways that you can easily find a different yarn color that suits your mood or wardrobe!  The drape of this yarn is amazing and was very enjoyable to work with!

I decided to make the shawl a three way convertible garment, and since there is no shaping involved, almost any intermediate crocheter can make this.  There are buttons to enable the garment to be worn various ways.  The shawl is cozy without being hot, and adds just enough warmth to take away the chill of an early spring or fall day.

Of course, this shawl would look lovely in a solid color yarn, and the pattern has yarn substitution guidelines.  I'm suggesting Berroco Ultra Alpaca light or possibly Berroco Summer silk.  You can adjust the gauge by changing the hook size if needed.  The stitch pattern was fun to work and interesting, because it changes from row to row.  The pattern contains full written instructions, professionally created stitch charts and a schematic.  There are two size options.

Pretty as a Peacock Shawl - The 2016 CGOA design competition

UPDATE!  See this post for my latest pattern inspired by the Pretty as a Peacock Shawl:  https://turningleavesstudio.blogspot.com
And on Ravelry:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/garden-walk-shawl
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I can't believe it's taken me so long to write this post!  It's almost time for another conference!!

We were living in temporary housing for a year until we finally moved into our new home in late June of 2016.  I didn't have many of my belongings, and we were in an apartment complex with a lot of other transitioning people.  It was just a strange situation.  The one good thing that came from it was that I had more time than ever to spend crocheting!

I had something I wanted to enter into the CGOA design competition, but it was in lace weight yarn and was taking a long time to make.  I decided my back up plan would be to enter more than one design in case I couldn't finish the lace shawl.

I approach this competition as an opportunity to stretch my skills and experiment.  In addition to the shawl, I also made a wool vest with a Monet inspired design on the back and one side of the front.  I experimented with several intarsia techniques before I developed something that worked, and didn't leave the inside looking really ugly.

The primary yarn for both entries was from Ellyn Cooper's Yarn Sonnets.  In the vest, I used a yarn she called Pot Luck.  It was a challenge because of it having so many different weights and textures and the strands only averaged about 36 inches long.  I took the entire skein apart and laid each strand out, so when I was working, the color and texture choice was very deliberate.  It was row by row, with many rows being ripped back because I didn't like the effect.  I ended up with a sort of "Freeform Intarsia" that isn't like any other crochet intarsia technique I've seen.  I'll be experimenting with it again, but with fewer colors and textures!

Here is the vest:

What I'm most pleased about is the fit.  This is one of my first garment designs, and the fit came out just right!

I worked on the vest when taking breaks from the lace shawl.  Here is the shawl in Ellyn Cooper's hand dyed Swiss Lace:

There are 1500 seed beads on the shawl as well.  I'm really pleased at the way it came out, but I was working up to the last minute, of the last day that it could be sent in!!!  Whew!

The shawl won second place in the Thread category.  You can see all the winners here:  http://www.crochet.org

There will be a pattern this spring for a less complicated version of the shawl in a heavier weight yarn.  I'm excited about getting this out!