Sea Glass Shawl Finito

I told you about starting the sea glass shawl a few weeks ago. I crocheted the first two rows of motifs, plus a couple of motifs on the third row, in the car. I wanted to make sure I had enough yarn to finish, so I then brought the shawl into the house to weigh and weigh the remaining yarn. A quick calculation and I was able to determine that I needed to buy another ball of yarn. A bit annoying as it comes in 100g balls! I only needed to use it for three motifs and the edging so I have a lot left over. Never mind, I will use it for something else; maybe a nice lacy scarf.

Anyway, it didn't take long to get all the motifs crocheted and joined. They're actually joined as you go, on the last round. At this point I needed to consult the pattern to see how to work the edging. Now in my first post about starting the shawl, I said that I was using a 3.5 mm hook. And in this post I said that I'd made a mistake and should have been using a 3.25 mm hook. When I consulted the pattern about the edging, I discovered that I had been right all along; it says to use a 3.5 mm hook. It's bad enough to think you've been mistaken but to realise that you've mistakenly thought you were mistaken is a little worrying!

You'd like to see the finished shawl now, I suppose. Here it is before it had the ends sewn in and been blocked.

What a difference blocking makes to lace work especially. It really opens out the design and makes it, well, lacy. This is the dress I'll be wearing with the shawl to the wedding. It has lots of beading at the neck so I didn't do any beading on the shawl.

These pictures were taken this morning when it was nice and sunny. We've actually had some better weather recently. But it is getting cloudy now, we've had a few showers and it's very windy. Hopefully it doesn't knock the power off again. Our power was out for several hours last night even though there was no apparent reason for it.

I'll get more pictures at the wedding so you can see the whole ensemble, shoes and all.

At the stage when I realised that I needed another ball of yarn, I was really temped to add an extra row of motifs to the shawl. I'm very glad that I didn't; it's plenty big enough once it's been blocked.

A close up of one of the starfish motifs.

I always thought that starfish had five legs but it's not uncommon for them to have six. In fact, they've been known to have just about any number of legs up to twenty-three!

Please let me know what you think of my shawl. I love reading your comments. Thanks for them all and a big welcome, too, to my new followers.

If you don't already know, have a look to see why I say finito.

Starting the Sea Glass Shawl

Have you seen the Sea Glass shawl pattern in the Simply Crochet issue 33 magazine? I know Daisy has already started one of these shawls and it is looking really gorgeous so far. You can see hers here.

It just so happens that I've also started crocheting one of these shawls. Well look at it! It's so, so beautiful, who could resist making it?

Fortunately I even have a very good reason for making mine; we're going to a wedding at the beginning of September and this is what I intend to wear with my dress.

Lace weight yarn had to be purchased. I picked the colour to match my new shoes. It was tricky to match the colour as I had to buy the yarn online from the Wool Warehouse. Picture me at a screen, new shoe in hand, trying to match the colour to various yarns. This is what I finally decided was the best match and, now that it has arrived and I can see it in real life, is actually a perfect match. 

It's Juniper Moon Farm Findley yarn which is 50% extra fine merino wool and 50% mulberry silk. It feels so soft. So very, very soft.

The pattern looks difficult but it is easy enough to follow. The shawl is made up of thirty four starfish motifs, joined as you go, arranged in three rows; ten motifs in the top row, nine motifs in the middle row and eight in the bottom row. After the first two starfish motifs I was able to continue without needing to refer to the pattern.

This is the first row complete with two motifs of the middle row also done. The colour isn't quite as dark as this really.

A bit closer so you can see more detail. This is much closer to the true colour.

Actually, as a matter of interest, the colour is called Rappahannock. I have to admit that this meant nothing to me until I checked it out on the internet.The Rappahannock River is in eastern Virginia and traverses the entire northern part of the state, from the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west, across the Piedmont, to the Chesapeake Bay, south of the Potomac River. That explains why the name has been used for this shade of blue!

The dress with which I will be wearing the sea glass shawl has a lot of beading at the neckline so I won't be doing any beading on the shawl. When it's finished I'll let you see it (it will improve immensely after being blocked). I'll also let you see the dress and shoes.

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my crocheted top. I've also done a wee cardigan which I'll have to let you see. Work continues on the big blanket!

All the best for now.