Scarves and shawls

Crochet Shawlmania!

13/03/2018 by Dada Filed Under: Scarves and shawls 19 Comments

This winter I didn’t catch the flu. Or a cold. Or any other disease, for that matter. But, I did catch a shawlmania! Yes, totally! The whole December I didn’t do anything else but crochet different kinds of shawls. One for myself, one for my sister, one for my mother in law, one for my friend… I even started making the fifth one, but I haven’t finished it yet. And I’m not sure if I will, because I started several new projects in the meantime, and I’m not quite happy with how the shawl is developing…

I absolutely love all 4 shawls I made, and enjoyed making every single one of them.

The first shawl I made this winter is The Winifred shawl, the lovely pattern by The Loopy Stitch. The pattern is beautiful, and I really enjoyed making it. I decided to use the yarn I already had in my stash, Bodrum from Alize, 48% linen, 52% polyester, 280m/100g. I love that yarn. And I love how the shawl turned out.

I made this shawl for myself, and I haven’t blocked it yet. I know. This is how I treat myself. I shouldn’t treat myself like that. I’ve just soaked the shawl in wool wash, and I’m going to block it!

The second shawl I made is Victoria shawl, the pattern by Sandra Cherry Heart. The best thing about this shawl is the pattern itself. Don’t get me wrong the shawl is gorgeous, but Sandra did such a great job with this pattern. It’s very well written and clear (there are written instructions as well as the crochet chart, and there is even the stitch counts chart), I just loved how easy the process of making it was.

I used Angora Gold Simli, from Alize, 75% acrylic, 20% wool, 5% metalized polyester, 500m/100g

I made it as a Christmas present for my mother in law, and she is thrilled!

The third shawl was a real joy to make, because it is a butterfly shawl, and because I made it for my sister. She’s one of my favorite people on the planet. She loves butterflies, always taking pictures of them; they often fly down on her hand. I’m a dog person myself. She’s a butterfly person.

So, what other shawl to make for a butterfly person but a butterfly shawl? The pattern is called Butterfly Stitch Prayer Shawl, by Debi Adams, and it is a free Ravelry download.

For this project I chose really lovely yarn from Alize, Cotton Gold Tweed, sprinkled with small colorful particles, which I thought butterflies would like. It is 57% cotton, 40% acrylic, 3% polyester, 330m/100g

So, I enjoyed crocheting this shawl for my sister. I made it as a birthday present, and she apparently loves it because I often see her wearing it.

And my last finished shawl this winter was Abrupt shawl by Rebecca Velasquez. I love that pattern. I love how geometrical and modern it looks. I loved it so much that I actually started on the second one, but I’m not quite in love with the colors I had chosen, so maybe I won’t finish it, but I would like to make at least one more with different colors and different yarn. Maybe something wooly, next time.

I now realized that this is the only shawl that I didn’t make with Alize yarn. That’s very strange, considering that I almost always use cotton yarn, like Tango, Golf, Tanja, or other yarn made by some domestic manufacturer. I don’t know what happened. Maybe I wanted to try some new yarn, to try something different. So, for this one I used my beloved Tanja 100% cotton yarn, 125m/50g (from Bimtex, Serbia) three different shades of blue. And I absolutely adore it.

I made it for my dear friend, who is also my English teacher, and besides my sister, my greatest cheerleader.

Shawlmania has passed me, but I’m afraid that I’ve just caught another bug, knitmania, to be precise. The signs of knitmania have been present for a while now. I’ve been watching knitting podcasts for months, even though I can’t knit, and this past weekend while I was watching some of Kristy Glass’ knit podcasts, I got a strong desire to try knitting. It was Saturday afternoon, all craft stores were closed and I didn’t have any knitting needles (because I’m not a knitter and I can’t knit). But I was so eager to start, you aren’t going to believe this, but I took some wooden kebab skewers and just had a go. It wasn’t so bad, actually. I managed to knit maybe 20 to 30 quite decent looking rows, especially taking into account that they were made with kebab skewers! I practiced casting on, and some basic stitches like the knit stitch, the purl stitch and the seed stitch. Now, writing this, I’m thinking about what shawl pattern I should try first, should I knit something easy, or should I try to make something more demanding, what yarn to buy, or maybe I already have some yarn I could use… my brain is very busy at the moment. So, knitmania, it is. If you are not a knitter don’t worry. Crochet is still my first love, and I will continue to crochet and make patterns, at least when knitmania passes me by.

Japanese Lacy Crochet Shawl

28/11/2015 by Dada Filed Under: Scarves and shawls 9 Comments

I love to make and design shawls. I also love to wear them, and to give them away. So, it came as no surprise that I made so many shawls in the last two years.

The story about this shawl begins long before I actually took the crochet hook, and made the first stitches. It begins a few months ago when I went to my nearby yarn shop to buy some yarn needed for the project I was working on, and found myself buying totally unexpectedly and unnecessarily a whole package (10 skeins of 50g) of yarn I instantly fell in love with and just had to have it. When I came home I put the yarn in the yarn cabinet, and almost forgot about it. Recently, I was flipping through my Japanese craft books, and saw the pattern for this lacy shawl. Instantly, I knew that the almost forgotten pink yarn in my yarn cabinet had been purchased precisely for the purpose of that shawl.
The rest of the story wasn’t so much interesting.

I spent many happy hours on my couch, covered with my Smitten blanket, listening to Hay House radio (Radio for your soul), or to one of my favorite podcasts, crocheting this shawl. I always enjoy this part of the process. When I finally decide on the pattern and the yarn, and immerse myself in a meditative rhythm of crochet.

And now, let’s introduce you to this famous pink yarn. It isn’t actually “Tango” or “Golf” yarn from St. George. It’s “Piazza” from Fischer wolle, but having in mind that I bought it in St. George’s yarn store (and they sell only their yarn) I assume that St. George manufacture this yarn for Fischer wolle. The quality is the same as “Tango” yarn. It is 125m/50g 100% cotton yarn. I used 3.5 mm crochet hook.

The other thing that might you interest to know is where can you find the pattern for this shawl. I found the pattern in this Japanese crochet book.

This shawl turned out pretty big, it’s 192 cm (76″) long, and 42 wide (16.5″) without the border! It is huge, actually, but I love it and enjoy wearing it, especially in this cold and rainy weather we have here these days!
Have a nice weekend my friends!

Secret Garden Shawl Free Crochet Tutorial

11/10/2015 by Dada Filed Under: Free crochet patterns, Scarves and shawls 31 Comments

Dadas place secret garden shawl free pattern

Today, I have only good news for you! The first good news is that several days ago, I opened Dada’s place shop! Here on my blog! That was a really big step for me! The shop is customer friendly, which means you don’t have to register to make a purchase. It’s a simple 4 steps process:

Click on the “Add to Bag” button
Enter your email address, fill in your billing information, and then your credit card or PayPal details
You’ll instantly receive a confirmation email about your purchase, then in about 5-10 minutes, when the payment has been processed, you’ll get an email with a link to access your download.
When you click on the link, the pattern will be downloaded. Open it, grab your crochet hook and enjoy! 🙂

Secret garden shawl free pattern and step by step tutorial

I use 2checkout payment collector, which is one of the world’s leading payment processors. It’s simple, fast and secure.

The second good news is that I have a free tutorial for you! I wanted to thank you for all your support, for visiting my blog and purchasing my patterns, which enabled me to devote myself full-time to crochet! Oh, how happy I am with crochet hook in my hand all day long!
I decided to make a free tutorial for Secret Garden Shawl, which I will show you in the second part of the tutorial. Today, you will learn how to make Secret Garden Flower.

The same flower I used to make this poncho.

Just one more thing before we start. For the Secret Garden Shawl as well as for the poncho above, I used my trusty Tango yarn (from St. George) 125m/50 g, and 3.5 mm crochet hook. So, lets start!

Begin with a magic ring. Make ch-4 in the ring. (Counts as dc and ch-1)
* Make dc in the ring, then ch-1;

Flowery crochet motif free photo tutorial

Repeat from * 6 more times. You should have 8 dc with ch-1 between each dc;
Pull the yarn tail and close the ring.

Flowery crochet motif free step by step photo tutorial

Join with slip st to the initial ch-4 space. Fasten off.
Join a new color in any ch-1 space, then make ch-1;

Make sc in the same space.
Make * 3 sc in the next ch-1 space.

Dadas place free crochet step by step photo tutorial

Repeat from * 6 more times.
Make 1 sc in the next ch-1 space – it’s the space where we’ve made our first sc;

Now, we’re going to make an invisible join. Cut the yarn and pull it through the stitch. Thread the tapestry needle, and insert the needle below both loops of the first sc, from back to front, and pull it through.

Insert your needle back, into the last sc you made – through the back loop only, from front to back, and pull it through.

Crochet flower free step by step tutorial

And this is how your circle, or a wheel should look like. You should have 24 sc in total. The join is really invisible. Isn’t it?
Now, join a new yarn in any sc, and make ch-5.

Crochet flower free step by step photo tutorial

Skip the next 2 sc, and make slip st in the next sc.
Make * ch-5, skip the next 2 sc and make slip st in the next sc; Repeat from * 6 more times. Make the last slip stitch in sc where we’ve already made ch-5.

Crochet flower free step by step photo tutorial for beginners

Make * sc, 5 dc, sc in the next ch-5 space;
Repeat from * 7 more times; You should have 8 petals;

Crochet flower free pattern and step by step tutorial

Now, we’re going to make an invisible join again, so cut the yarn and pull it through the stitch, then thread the tapestry needle. Insert your needle under both loops of the first sc you made, from back to front and pull it through.
Then, insert your needle back, into the last sc you made – through the back loop only, from front to back, and pull it through.

We’ve just finished the third round of the flower. It wasn’t hard. Was it?
Attach a new color into the middle stitch of the petal, (it’s the third dc) then make ch-6;

Free crochet flower step by step tutorial

Make * sc into the third dc of the next petal, then ch-6; Repeat from * six more times. Join with slip stitch to dc where we’ve made the initial chain of six.
Make * sc, 6 dc, sc into the next ch-6 space.

Free crochet flower tutorial for beginners

Repeat from * 7 more times.
Again, we’re going to make an invisible join, so cut the yarn and pull it through the stitch, then thread the tapestry needle. Insert your needle under both loops of the first sc you made, from back to front and pull it through.

Step by step free crochet flower tutorial

Then again, insert your needle back, into the last sc you made – through the back loop only, from front to back, and pull it through.
We just have to make the last round of our secret garden flower, so attach a new yarn in any sc between the two petals and make ch-9

Dadas place free crochet flower tutorial

Make * sc into sc between the next two petals, then make ch-9; Repeat from * 6 more times, and join with slip st to sc where we’ve made our initial chain of 9.
And there it is, your secret garden flower!

Beautiful flowery crochet shawl free tutorial

In the second part of the tutorial I will show you how to join the flowers, and how to make these little squares between the flowers. We will use join-as-you go method.

Beautiful flowery crochet blanket pattern

And the third good news is that the tutorial for the Victorian flower baby blanket is finally finished, and will be available in Dada’s place shop on Wednesday!

Update: The Victorian Flower blanket pattern is now availabe, click here to get the pattern.

Click here to see the second part of the Secret Garden Shawl Tutorial

Click here to see the third part of the Secret Garden Shawl Tutorial

Enjoy the tutorial and have a great weekend!