Ricicles Shawl

I've got a brand new pattern to share with you and I'm a bit excited!

I gave you a little sneak peak the other day.  As I mentioned in that post, I was all very consumed by Autumnal colours and outfit coordination at the time and I think this shawl does indeed look most Autumny in these colours.

I actually, somewhat unusually I suppose, made this shawl up in Stylecraft Special DK.  An acrylic yarn wouldn't normally be my first thought for something that I want to wrap up around my neck but I was so excited by having the exact colours I'd been thinking about in my stash ready to go, that I forgot all about considerations like that and rushed in, eager to see how it would look.

It turned out nicely, fitting well with my little fantasy picture I'd conjured up.  The border, which I'd imagined in the red, turned out to be much better in navy, but other than that, pretty faithful to the image.  Of course, on finishing I did than start to worry a little about my acrylic choice...

I wanted to block the shawl, the pattern needed a little blocking to bring it out nicely and shawls often feel so much nicer and drape so much better after a gentle little stretching.  Of course, acrylic isn't the more 'blocking friendly' material in the world but it just so happens that I'd recently read Lucy of Attic 24's post about her experience of blocking acrylic yarn and I thought maybe it would be possible.

I'd read about steam blocking acrylic yarns before, so I knew the theory but it all seemed rather scary and liable to go horribly wrong.  That's the wonderful thing about Lucy's blog though, she takes you through things step by step and somehow makes it sound easy and achievable.  I decided to give it a go.

Still a little worried, I tried a small test piece first and joy of joys, it worked perfectly!  I moved onto the shawl itself. It was a little more tricky to manage due to the size of it and I had to work in sections, but I carefully pinned each section out and steamed it before moving onto the next.  Well worth it though as it did wonders for it.  Relaxing it just enough to open up the pattern as I had wanted and just sit that little bit nicer around my shoulders.  So it seems a shawl on a budget is a possibility after all.

The nice thing this that it was such a lovely quick thing to make up.  And once you've got the basic idea of the stitch, a really simple and relaxing make too.  Not an awful lot of thought required and that's sometimes a very good thing.  It's also really adaptable as it can change completely depending on what colours are being used.  I tested out the pattern with some softer colours and they give it a whole new look, which I love.

You could use more colours, even use it as a stash buster and give it a scrappy look... oh I like that idea!  Or go the other way and use less colours, just 2 maybe or even just one, with the edging in a second colour... I like that too.  I was also thinking, that as this is my 'Autumnal' version, maybe I could make a shawl for each season, Winter, Spring and Summer?  Lots of ideas!

* Below are all the links you need for the new pattern. *

I need to go hunting through my stash again.  Maybe I'll treat myself to a more luxurious yarn this time.  I'm not quite sure, but I'm excited by the possibilities....

♥  New Pattern - Ricicles Shawl  ♥


♥  A four pattern with written directions and photo tutorials for all special stitches.

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Ricicles Shawl Pattern Page

for more details

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