Catherine's Crochet Corner

So, the other day I mentioned that one of my stash-bust projects was bigger and deserved a post of its own.

And here it is!

A shawligan. It’s a shawl – but with sleeves!

How flipping awesome is that? I mean, I love shawls, but they’re not always the most practical of thing. But a shawl with sleeves? Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.

The pattern is the Avery Shawligan, by Deni Sharpe. It’s a paid pattern, well-written and with helpful pictures. Essentially it’s a triangular granny-stitch shawl, but with sleeves added to create more of a cardigan shape. Tassels are optional, but who doesn’t love a tassel?

I’m in two minds about whether this is a project that really counts as a stash-bust, though. The yarn was in my stash, yes. It had been sat there for months, yes (since Christmas, in fact – it was a present from my brother). But I had earmarked this yarn for this project since Boxing Day, so does it really count as stash, if it was just waiting for the right time to be used?

The yarn itself is hand-dyed wool, from the Ruataniwha dye studio, in these lovely autumnal shades (full details on my Ravelry project page). Apparently my brother scoured etsy to find yarn for me. Bless him. It’s so nice having supportive/generous relatives 😀 it’s a gorgeously soft yarn, lovely to work up and very comfortable to wear.

 

It didn’t take me long to make – less than a week – and I have practically lived in it since then. It’s so snuggly and swishy and yes, it has become my favourite piece of clothing ever.

 

 

 

I added a little tie to it – a long chain, worked with two strands of each colour (so six strands in total) with a jumbo-sized hook. I think it was 12mm or something, but I can’t remember precisely. I left the tie loose, so I can adjust where it goes on the shawligan – higher or lower, depending on where I want it.

 

And, because I had a bit of yarn leftover, I made a pair of fingerless mitts to go with it. The pattern for those is Petals to Picot’s V-stitch wrist warmers. I followed the helpful notes on some other Ravellers’ projects to add thumbholes to it.

 

I can absolutely see myself making this pattern again. And again, and again, quite possibly. Because one isn’t enough, right? I need one in different colours! A blue-ish one, or a purple-ish one, or green-ish. I am keeping my eyes open for the perfect yarn 😀 and hey, Christmas is coming up, maybe my brother will buy me more. Because obviously, even though I’ve been trying to stash-bust, there is simply no such thing as too much yarn. Am I right?

Yes. Yes, I am right.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to snuggle up in my snuggly super-duper shawligan, and enjoy this sunshiny autumn afternoon 🙂