Shawls are probably one of my favourite things to make, and I seem to have built up a bit of a collection of them, so of course I decided I had to make another! I work really close to a Hobbycraft and far too often find myself browsing the yarn section, and on payday a few weeks ago bought three balls of Hayfield Mystery Spirit .

It’s a lovely DK yarn, 80% acrylic and 20% wool and a mix of purple, grey and white, with a few bits of blue mixed through as well. It’s really soft and easy to work with, although it’s definitely more of a winter yarn for making cosy hats and scarves rather than a yarn for making light summer shawls. I used a 5mm rather than 4mm hook.

The pattern I used is the ‘Following Sunrise Shawl’ that was in issue 16 of Crochet Now magazine, but can also be bought on Ravelry.  In an attempt to be organised and clear out old magazines, a couple of months ago I went through old magazines and removed patterns I liked and stored them all in folders. It’ll take me years to work through them all! This was the first thing I made using one of my stored magazines.

The pattern is made up of 56 rows, but I kept going until it was the size I wanted. My aim was to make a shawl that I could wrap myself up in when the weather gets cooler, and I think I succeeded! The blocked shawl ended up 160cm wide on the long edge, and the shorter edges were 110 cm. You can also add tassels, but I’m not really keen on them so kept them off.

I’m really happy with how it turned out, and it’s the perfect size to wrap up in when winter starts. I have to admit that I’m not so fond of the blue that comes through in the yarn, but there’s very little of it compared to the other colours.

Now that this shawl is finished I’ll be able to concentrate on the other shawl I’ve been making, this one with a Scheepjes Whirl. I think I have a problem…

Materials used:

• Hayfield Mystery Spirit DK – 3 balls
• 5mm hook