WIP Report on Crochet Shawl Design Number 3

For the last few days I've been crocheting away on my third shawl design of the year. I'm making great progress as I love working on it and can't put it away. Why is that? Well, first of all, it's very relaxing. For my shawl designs I find it really important that they are relaxing and soothing. Making a shawl means sitting down for many hours working your hands and seeing your work grow and I want to make that process as joyful as possible. For me that means minimal counting and just moving my hands watching the stitches create a soft fabric and being in that moment. I also like more complex and complicated designs, but that's a totally different kind of experience for me bringing a different kind of joy and fulfilment. Having said all this, I will add a nice edging at the end that requires some counting because I like to give each shawl a special kind of flair or detail. 

The yarn I'm using also makes me want to crochet for hours on end. Perhaps you've already used it yourself: Scheepjes Whirl and Whirlette. The gradient Whirl really makes you want to get to the next colour change as fast as possible and because of its generous twist, it does not split and works up really quickly. You can read more about these yarns below.

Whirl colour 751 Liquorice Yumyum with Tingsha bells used to signal the beginning of a meditation session.

Perhaps you can already guess the shape of the shawl from the photos: it's going to be an asymmetrical triangle shawl (with a nice edging as I mentioned earlier) and I plan to finish it just before we head into 2020. I don't know if I have the pattern ready for you by then as well, but if not, it will definitely be available early January, both here on my blog and as a premium PDF for a small fee. 'Premium' means that the PDF will contain a chart, some tutorial photos and written instructions in bullet point format, which makes for easy reading.

See you soon with photos of the finished shawl!

Whirl and Whirlette yarn 

Where to shop for Whirl and Whirlette*

These links will take you to the shops' main page where you can do a search for the yarns you'd like:

UK Wool Warehouse (international shipping)
UK Deramores (international shipping)
UK Black Sheep Wools (international shipping)
CA Knotty House (US + CA)

Both yarns are made from a blend of 60% cotton and 40% acrylic, which makes for lightweight and breathable shawls (or any other garments for that matter). Whirl is a gradient yarn with a very generous twist so that it works up really quickly and it helps prevent splitting. Each colour change (and there are many, which I love because it makes the gradient so subtle) is carefully tied to ensure the knot can be discretely hidden within your stitches. So don’t worry if you come across quite a few ”knots” or rather “fluffy bits” because that means one colour thread is replaced by another colour thread that needs to be worked into the yarn.

The Whirlette yarn, which I already used for my Moonwish Wrap, has the same blend but only comes in single colours, matching some of the Whirl shades. Another difference is that the Whirl yarn cakes hold no less than 1000 metres and the Whirlette balls 455 metres.

Both yarns have a beautiful drape and that is definitely something I’d want for my shawl designs.

 

My previous two shawl designs

Moonwish Wrap in Whirlette

Star Beam Shawl in Our Tribe

*Thank you to Scheepjes for providing the yarn for this project. The affiliate links in this post support giveaways, free patterns, discounts and the running of this blog. By purchasing yarn through these affiliate links, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you!