Diamond Flowers Shawl

My Diamond Flowers shawl is done!

It's crocheted with just over three skeins (about 800 total yards) of Spud & Chloe Fine Sock Yarn.

It's 80% superwash wool and 20% silk.  I would expect it to be soft because of the silk.

However, it really isn't very soft at all.  And, washing it didn't seem to help.  

In fact, it seems a little less soft and even a bit scritchy after washing and blocking.  Hmmm?

I sure love the color though.

I crocheted it with the recommended hook size of "I".

That gave it a light, open, airy look.

This is one of my favorite colors.  Look!...it matches my favorite pair of earrings!

I think I'll find lots of things to wear it with.

Here's one idea...a pair of jeans and a white shirt.

I think it would look cute with short sleeves, a tank top or a dress too.

The finished size of 26" wide by 76" long will give it lots of versatility.

Overall, I like the shawl and the pattern was easy to understand. 

It has a regular pattern and chart for a skinny/scarf size and an enlarged/customize-able/shawl size.

I did the enlarged size with 96 stitches to start.

The only problem I had was making silly mistakes (often) that I didn't notice

until rows later.  The mistakes are hard to spot sometimes because the openness of it.

At one point, I missed a mistake and didn't catch it until I was on the last row.

I had to rip back an entire skein and then some to fix it.  Ugh!

With all the stitching, ripping, and re-stitching, I think I did enough stitching

for at least two shawls.  But, in the end, I only have one.  Oh well.

It was fun and I really like the end result.

Hello, Yarnover Truck!

Last week, I posted about a project I was working on and how I'd run out of yarn wayyyy before it was done.  At that time, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend any more money on it.  And, I wasn't even sure that more yarn would be available.  I'd purchased the yarn over a month ago.

After I thought about it for a while, I decided that I liked the project a lot and that I really didn't want to rip out all my hard work.  So, I sent a message to the Yarnover Truck (where I'd bought the yarn)

to see if they happened to have any left in the same dye lot.  They did!  They said they'd be happy to hold it for me even if I couldn't make it to one of their locations until August or later.  Wow!

They were in San Diego on Sunday.  That's not all that close to me but I love

going down there and it was a great excuse to beat the crazy heat we had at home.  

An hour drive and we were in temps 30 degrees cooler than home!  Wow!

Hello, Yarnover Truck!

I went in and they had my yarn right there waiting for me in a bag.

They even gave me a Yarnover Truck button.  They're so nice and I really enjoyed

chatting with them for a few minutes.  I was excited to congratulate them for

winning the 2013 TNNA Business Innovation Award.  I know a lot of us thought

their idea was genius.  It's awesome that they have been officially recognized for it.

They had their glass trophy sitting on the counter.  :-)

I know that I said it this after my first visit to the Yarnover Truck and I'm going to say it again after my second visit...this is one of my all time favorite yarn shops.  That says a lot because I go into every yarn shop I can find in Southern California and everywhere I travel.  I think that just about every yarn they have is super gorgeous.  They have both knitted and crocheted samples that are stylish and perfect for the season.  And, their little shop is nicely organized, bright, airy and just plain fun!  

If you ever get a chance, go shop the Yarnover Truck!

They had a couple of these signs for sale...cute.

I know that food trucks are super popular now.  I had no idea there were stores on wheels...except 

for the Yarnover truck!  Turns out there's a whole association for them.  This event was put on by

the AMRA (American Mobile Retail Association).  Who knew?!  This event was held behind a very nice wine bar called "Fifty Seven Degrees".  It was near down town San Diego and Little Italy...just above the airport.  There were over half a dozen trucks, a DJ spinning some cool tunes, food and drinks.  The theme was fashion and there were a lot of really cool and cute clothes.

Here are some of the mobile shops...

I like the name of this one and they had lots of cute stuff.  They even had a fitting room on board.

The shop next to the Yarnover Truck had lots of hand made art type clothing and Steampunk styles.

We saw a lot of really cool stuff that was very inspired and impressive.

This is another shot of it.  The "mobile" part of their business was a nice, restored VW bus.

What a fun day!  I'm definitely going to keep my eye out for more events like this.

And, of course, I'll definitely be back again and again to shop at the Yarnover Truck!

I may only need one more skein but I bought two...just in case.

This is officially my most expensive yarn project ever!

But, it's not even done yet and it's filled with fun and happy memories.

I was a very happy girl last night as I wound my new ball of yarn

and started working on my project again.  Yay!

I'd also made a pitcher of sangria last night that was oh so delicious.

It was a very good day!

Ugh!

Ugh!  I'm frustrated! 

 I've run out of yarn before my project is anywhere near finished.

I've worked for weeks on this project.  

It's been a love/hate kind of project.

Easy yet hard in that the openness of it makes it hard to see any mistakes

until a row or three later.  Rip!  There has been a lot of frogging along the way!

But, I kept going because I loved the sample I saw weeks ago on the Yarnover Truck.

Here's my project draped over the back of a chair...

(Keep in mind that this is unblocked and would look different and much better after blocking)

I've been a bit worried about the length since I finished the first skein and saw how short it was at that point.  But, I kept hoping (dreaming) that I had enough yarn to make it big enough.  I kept looking at a project on Ravelry (which looks exactly like the one on the Yarnover Truck and says she used 

two skeins) and trying to believe it was going to work...with a little magic.

The sample I saw on the truck was the "increased width" and had a tag that said it needed

two skeins of the yarn used in the sample.  I bought two skeins.  However, at the end of my

two skeins, the shawl is barely over three feet long.  I know it will grow during blocking but

I really don't think it will grow nearly enough!  It really needs one more skein to work.

That's the problem.  The Yarnover Truck is usually in areas very far from where I live.

So, even if they did have a skein left over of this exact color and dye lot (which would be

surprising with the amount of business they do), I'd have to drive hours to get it.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with this project.  It's way too short to use.  

But, I put so much time and work into it.  I guess I'll just put it in time out

until I'm ready to frog it completely and use the yarn for another project.  Ugh!

P.S. I've received a couple comments about contacting the Yarnover Truck for more yarn.
I came close to doing that but I've spent so much money on this project already
 and I'm not sure I love it enough to spend more.  I'm not even sure I'm willing to make it
 in a narrower version with the yarn I have because it wasn't very fun to crochet.
Maybe I'll feel a bit differently after some time away from it.