We’ve all done it. We’ve all succumbed to the allure of pretty yarn. You know the kind with lots of color changes, maybe it even has an interesting effect like a binding strand or it’s thick-and-thin or has alternating textures. And, it’s just so different, so unique, that a few balls must go home with you. If you’re like me, you may even pace around the craft store 5 or 6 times trying to convince yourself you don’t need it before you finally give in. Then you get home and unpack it, gently placing it on the shelf (perhaps with the other balls that ventured home with you in a similar manner on a previous excursion), and then it sits. It sits and sits. What did you buy it for? Did you have a plan? What will you make? Will you ever use it? Is it officially considered a room decoration yet?
Needles to say, this happens to me. Quite a bit. I purged a lot of my random yarn purchases when we moved last year and somehow they’ve begun accumulating again. But there were two particular skeins that called to me. I did what I always do. I put them in the cart. Walked. Took them out of the cart. Walked. Put them back in the cart. Walked. Took them out of the cart. Walked…. etc.
Eventually the yarn stayed in the cart and came home with me as it always does. I had no plan for it, but I had to have it. The yarn was Yarn Bee (available at Hobby Lobby and no, I am not sponsored by them and I don’t get anything for directing you there) First Love and the colorway was Purple Multi. There were so many hues vacillating through the skein! And the fiber had a tiny strand of thread spun through it, holding it in place and giving it a unique bubbly-twisty texture. Difficult to explain. Here, I’ll show you:
Yes, yes. It had to be mine. Sometimes these things are just meant to be. But like the many other skeins that were meant to be mine, for some fated reason it came home and sat on the shelf. For months.
But something about this yarn and those colors called to me. They were too unexpected, too different, too… me.
Due to other obligations I had to ignore this yarn’s siren call quite a bit. But it stayed in the back of my mind. I wanted so badly to use it and break the yarn-hoarding cycle.
Finally, I did!
You can also find her on Ravelry.
This is a ridiculously simple stitch pattern, and that is on purpose. You don’t want complicated stitches competing with fabulous yarn. At the same time, how sick are you of only ever making basic single or double crochet scarves and cowls with your fabulous, color-crazy yarn? No, we need something slightly more interesting, and doesn’t your yarn deserve that too?
Yes. It does.
The stitch pattern is inspired by traditional V stitch, but the Vs are a bit wider and offset. This breaks up your stripes and gives you splashes of color instead of straight lines.
The shape is triangular, but unlike most triangle shawls it’s wider than a right triangle. This gives you a little more length for wrapping and makes the most of your yardage. (I guess I didn’t get a picture of it laid out flat so that you could see the shape. You’ll just have to trust me.)
But my favorite thing about this pattern – it’s fast. Like, crazy fast. I made the one above with two balls of Yarn Bee First Love, wove the ends, made and attached the tassels, AND steam blocked it all in about 3 hours. That is emergency-gift fast.
Here’s the details in case you want to reproduce a shawl like this one:
Yarn: Yarn Bee from Hobby Lobby, First Love, colorway Purple Multi, 2 balls (I think this colorway has been discontinued, but check out the others, they are gorgeous!)
Hook: 6.5mm
Size after blocking: 60 inches wide not counting tassels
Use scrap yarn for tassels.
Here’s the rest of my pictures of this one.
Let’s talk about those tassels! I’m so in love with those tassels! A shawl made out of yarn this funky needs some funky finishing. I gathered up the small amount of scraps I had left over and made these mismatching tassels. I absolutely adore that they match the shawl, but not each other. I also grabbed a few beads and popped them on before attaching the tassels for maximum funkification.
And, it turns out tassels are SUPER-EASY to make too! I did a little photo tutorial to prove it to you.
So, obviously, I enjoyed making this shawl. And what happens when you enjoy making a pattern? You make another one.
I just adore the little streaks of sunny yellow peeking through the stormy skies. What a perfect winter shawl! This yarn is fabulously cozy and only got better when I steam blocked it. I’ve been wearing it around the house daily. It’s like a mini blanket I can take with me on my shoulders.
This Jayma is made with 3 balls of Loops and Threads (from Michael’s, again, no endorsement here) Charisma in the colorway Stormy. (I’d be happy to link to them but the past few weeks I can’t seem to reach their site. So, whatever, Michael’s.)
Hook: 8mm
Size: about 72 inches without tassels and after steam blocking
Again, I gathered just the scraps and uses them for the tassels. Those very scraps helped make the tassel tutorial.
In the tassel tutorial I talk about using whatever scraps you have and you’ll see that I had a few different lengths. That’s because for this Stormy Jayma I had to snip a few times to get the color changes to flow correctly. Actually, I did them incorrectly once thinking it would blend in. It didn’t. I frogged almost an entire ball of yarn. The good news is, in Jayma-land that only cost me about an hour of work. (So fast!)
Again the tassels are mismatching because I think that’s fabulous. These ones have me over-the-moon too. One is all navy blue and the other is half navy blue with light streaks coming through.
Stormy Jayma got a similar photo shoot. This time a single yellowed cottonwood leaf was stuck in the fence. It was perfect.
Thank you little cottonwood leaf that is probably a great metaphor for life or something.
I hope you’ll give Jayma a try, and I hope she comes in handy this holiday gift-giving season that is so rapidly approaching. Maybe give her a place in your book marks for any emergency gifts that may come up. I know you already have the yarn.
Please check out the Patterns page here on Every Trick on the Hook or my Ravelry store to see more of my patterns, both free and paid.
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Thank you! Both me and my daughter are crocheting this together and we’re loving it so much!