I have to admit, that I never felt much for doilies, shawls, hats and hand warmers. The latter is still the case, they just aren't doing it for me. I love to see designs of other crocheters but my hands stay clear of warm woolly winter wear. However, in the past year doilies and shawls have made a comeback. In search of decorations for my market, I started to make some modern doilies as you might have seen popping up on my facebook. But shawls have also grown on me.
A while back I bought two beautiful skeins of KAUNI wool from Galchik on Etsy. I marveled over them, caked them up and then put them in my yarn closet... This stuff usually happens with pretty yarn as I am not sure about the project yet.
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/hmr/KAUNI-skeins.jpg?mtime=20191231145733&focal=none)
But the flamy yarn was determined to be put into a useful item. It screamed at me: I WANT TO KEEP YOU WARM! Now the problem is, it's 100% wool and quite ticklish as you can see on the picture. However, after reading a few tips online and talking to fellow crocheters who had gone down this path before I found out that once you put it in the freezer the ticklishness was gone (is that even a word?).
As the flame skein was listed as 178 gr, and I had no idea about the yardage. I set out on searching a pattern that was easily adaptable but could also double as a handkerchief in case of a lack of yarn. Well the last part didn't really work out for this pattern, but as I was confident that there was at least enough to make a shawl or wrap for me or a tiny family member I started anyway, with the Elise shawl pattern (which seems to be a hit all over the internet).
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/hmr/Elise-shawl.jpg?mtime=20191231145946&focal=none)
This was September... The sun was shining, the yarn was ticklish and sturdy, and I had a market to prepare. This project entered the pit of doom, a.k.a. the bottom shelf of that same yarn closet. It didn't see the daylight for a few months. I actually forgot all about it. My shawl endeavor ended right there, or so I thought. Until I re-discovered the WIP a few weeks back. It felt like a waste of pretty yarn as ripping out everything didn't really work out with the yarn. So I continued!
and it grew, and grew, and grew.
Then there was the point where I didn't find my shawl big enough, but started to run out of yarn. Every row was guessing whether there was still enough for a row back and a border. I actually managed to border everything with about 1 meter of yarn left!
On to the next challenge... Blocking! The length of the shawl was unblocked about 1.30m. I stretched, and pinned, and stretched on my ironing board. I was steam blocking the hell out of it but it didn't want to get in shape. After a while, I figured that it couldn't be worse than it already was (unblocked it was really a bunch of frotted shawl). I used a low wool-heat on my iron and I started ironing it. At first, I was afraid I would damage it very badly. The scarf blocked out neatly though (wouldn't recommend it to anyone though as usually ironing isn't great for wool). It also softened up the wool a bit, making it more flexible. I was in heaven, except that it was still a little bit ticklish. It's now about 1.50 m wide, So I can wear it as a triangle scarf.
This was 2 weeks ago. You might have already caught a sneak peek of the shawl in my posts about the market. But it deserves its own proper display, don't you think?
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/hmr/Elise-Shawl-5.jpg?mtime=20191231145934&focal=none)
Nice huh? The yarn variegation worked out very well in this shawl.
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/hmr/Elise-Shawl-4.jpg?mtime=20191231150006&focal=none)
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/hmr/Elise-Shawl-2.jpg?mtime=20191231150027&focal=none)
The pattern is still not as flat and stretched as it should be. I think it's because of the sturdiness of the yarn, and it should wear off over time when it becomes more supple.
![](https://storage.googleapis.com/hmr/Elise-Shawl-3.jpg?mtime=20191231150047&focal=none)
So I'm still not wearing it. It's way to ticklish. I want to put it in the freezer so badly... But it's full of Christmas food waiting to be eaten! So I guess I have to wait until the holidays are over. It's way to warm out here anyway for a shawl... It shouldn't be 10 degrees Celcius when it's Christmas. It should be windy and snowy and cold and dark!
Well. Maybe next year it will be. Who knows, I could even get the urge to crochet some beanies!
Comments