My Purple Shawls

Okay, I figure I ought to post a couple photos of the finished shawls. The first one is Small Talk a free pattern I found at www.ravelry.com. I used a purple wool/acrylic blend. It was the one I ran out of yarn for so had to end it one row early. I'm keeping this one for myself. I had to pin it out on the floor on a piece of the old living room carpet in order to block it. Blocking involves getting it wet, pressing out the excess water then stretching and pinning it to dry. After I blocked the main body I had to block the edging in sections because it curved so much. Ziggy decided it was a good place to take a nap.

At ravelry it is apparently "the thing" to hang one's shawl outside for photos, so I used the clothesline behind the house for the finished TADA! photos. It came out to be about 70 inches wide and maybe 30 inches long.

The other shawl is the Catkins also from ravelry.com and created by yarnpumpkin. Here it is blocked. Because it is microfiber, aka 100% acrylic it needed to be steam blocked. I just got it damp, pinned it out, then used my trusty steam iron held about a half inch above the fabric and kept pushing the steam button till I had gone over the whole thing twice. It held its shape well as can be seen from the outdoor shots.

I did add beads to the bottom edge, 8 mm purple and black beads that I had bought when I visited Hal's sister a year or so ago. I couldn't get anything bigger than 6 mm up here and the holes were too small for the yarn. I gave this shawl to Hal's sister when I went down for a baseball game at Tiger Stadium last month. She really seemed to like it.

Currently, I am pausing in the manufacture of shawls and trying to make myself a pullover summer sweater by Doris Chan. I'm on my 4th try. I've never crocheted a garment before and figuring out which hook and which size sweater to make has been a challenge. This is how it looked on me after I finished the yoke (3rd try). It was a bit tight in the underarms which I was afraid of as I am having a hard time getting the gauge right. This was size medium using a G hook (4.5mm). I have now gone up to a US 7 hook (4.5mm) and as size M and L are worked the same until the joining of the underarms, I'm just winging it till I get close. The bust size for medium is 39", for large it is 43", quite a difference and as my bust is only a 38" the large size seems a bit excessive. I guess I'll find out once I get there.