Hygge CAL: Week 1

I’m so excited, today the Scheepjes 2017 Hygge CAL will start! If you haven’t heard about the Hygge CAL yet, please check out this page which contains all information regarding the CAL. Really, I couldn’t be happier because the CAL has been so well received already, it’s very exciting and humbling at the same time! Thank you for all your enthusiasm and I hope you’ll enjoy the CAL just as much as I do!

Week 1

So week 1, the very first part of the Hygge CAL! As you might figured out already, the shawl is made in one piece. This means that, in contrary to most CALs, you will not be working on motifs that you will join afterwards. Rather, you crochet, embroider and decorate a piece of the shawl each week, and instead of cutting your base yarn you’ll leave it for next week. In the end, we’ll crochet an edging around the piece and line it (if you want).

This means that the shawl will be worked from one end to the other. As you might have seen on the photo’s, the ends of the shawl are made out of bobble stitches! They are one of my favourite stitches, as they provide texture and pops of colour, depending on how you use them. I’ve chosen to make rows of bobble stitches, just to bring those pops of colour into the base colour of the shawl (and because I’m a sucker for geometry). This also means that you don’t have to embroider this week. But no worries, that will come soon!

Tips

I’ve included some tips in the pattern to help you on your way. One of the most important things to remember is that if you want your bobble to pop you want to make the stitch next to the bobble stitch, which is a double crochet (UK, or single crochet in US terms), tight. Pull that stitch tight means that your bobble will stick out more. Esther explains this very well in her video’s (see below).

Another useful tip is one I learned throughout the years. People make bobble stitches in all shapes and sizes and inevitably, some will sag or don’t puff up as nicely as you’d want to. Besides following the tip above, another tip is to add volume in the bobble stitch. My bobble stitches have 5 ‘spokes’ (/repeats of unfinished stitches), but you could also do 6 to make it stand out more. This does mean that you use up a bit more yarn though (so don’t go wild and make 10 spokes just to be sure).

Details

The kits are for sale through various Scheepjes retailers, such as Wool Warehouse (UK based, worldwide).. The pattern will be released from February 15th 2017 in 14 weekly instalments in the Facebook groups, and on Scheepjes.com. To help you understand the patterns, the fabulous Esther from It’s all in a Nutshell has made videos for the techniques used in this CAL. You can find her video’s on her Youtube channel, It’s all in a Nutshell Crochet.