Jane Austen Crochet Shawl in Recycled Yarn

Hello there!  I've been away yet again.  I don't know if it is because blogging is not my strongest point or because I feel like I have nothing to say that anyone cares to read...?!  Either way, it doesn't matter, it's good therapy...LOL

So one thing I did last year was purchase some "recycled" yarn.  If you remember this post showing some of my purchases.  The yarn had been pulled from sweaters found in garage sales or Goodwill or what have you.  They then wound it up and sold it on Ebay...a GREAT FIND!  Well I finally got over the intimidation of how unbelievably small this yarn is, not to mention how I was going to maneuver it with my long skinny fingers!  So I started with this color, kind of a sage green:

85% Silk 15% Cashmere

And a pattern I found on Ravelry: The Jane Austen Shawl by Wendy Lewis  Wendy mentions how she can just imagine Jane wearing this shawl over an empire waist gown.  I can imagine it keeping the chill off of a cool spring evening walk across a flowering pasture.  How fun is it to dream about period events where your creations can come alive!

It was so long I had to block it on the floor!

ECU of pattern!  Too bad I have beige carpet!

As you can see the shawl turned out beautifully!!  Jane Austen is one of my daughter-in-laws favorite authors, if not her most favorite!!  So I thought what a perfect mothers day gift for her.  I know it will be a little late getting to her but I am really excited to share this recycled treasure with her.

Even though the finished product looks NOTHING like it did before it was blocked, it was actually kind of ugly, I liked the result so much that I decided to try another pattern with one of the other yarns...it is about halfway finished and includes beads!  Yeah!  I will have it up for sale on my Etsy site once it is blocked and all purty up.

Thanks for hanging in there to read my sporatic posts!

Retro Ruffle Scarf - FREE PATTERN

Getting My Retro On!

This is the first pattern I've ever written down!  Whew...glad that's over!  I enjoy creating new things but not real sure I like the writing down part of it.  I'm sure there's some sort of trick or technique to creating and writing a pattern at the same time...if you know of one please share!

If you think the colors look familiar then you might have seen them at Scarves for Special Olympics.  I had mentioned this in one of my earlier posts.  These are the official colors this year and I thought I'd not only get creative but actually try and write it down in case I ever wanted to do it again.  Actually I find myself being one of those people that will do a pattern once and not have any desire to do it again.  Of course if you really want one in specific colors my arm can be twisted!

I hope you enjoy...and if you find an error (if you don't I'd be surprised) please let me know!!!

Color A - Red Heart Super Saver 886 Blue

Color B - Red Heart Super Saver 512 Turqua

Large Circle - make 8

Begin with Color A

ch 2

Rw1 - 6 sc in second ch from hook, slst in first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn (6 sc)
Rw2 - 2 sc in each sc around, changing to Color B slst in first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn (12 sc)
Rw3 - *2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next sc* repeat around, slst in first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn (18 sc)
Rw4 - *2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next 2 sc* repeat around, slst in first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn (24 sc)
Rw5 - *2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next 3 sc* repeat around, changing to Color A slst in first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn (30 sc)
Rw6 - *2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next 4 sc* repeat around, chainging to Color B slst in first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn (36 sc)
Rw7 - *2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next 5 sc* repeat around, slst in first sc to join, fasten off (42 sc)

Small Circle - make 9
Begin with Color B
ch 2
Rw1 - 6 sc in second ch from hook, slst in first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn (6 sc)
Rw2 - 2 sc in each sc around, slst in first sc to join, ch 1 do not surn (12 sc)

Rw3 - *2 sc in first sc, 1 ch in next sc* repeat around, changing to Color A slst in first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn (18 sc)

Rw4 - *2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next 2 sc* repeat around, changing to Color B slst in first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn (24 sc)

Rw5 - *2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next 3 sc* repeat around, slst in first sc to join, fasten off (30 sc)

Connect alternating circles end to end using Color B to sew through 3 stiches on each end.

Close up of "valley" where two circles meet.

Edging

Rw1 - With Color B sc all the way around the edge of the scarf.  On each end do 2 sc in the same st. changing to Color A slst in the first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn.

Rw2 - sc all the way around the edge of the scarf.  At each valley where the circles join, sctog in the last sc from one circle and the first sc on the next circle from the previous row.  On each end circle do 2 sc in the same st at the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock position. Slst in the first sc to join, ch 1 do not turn.

Rw3 - 2 sc in each stitch all the way around, skipping the sctog at each valley from previous row.

Fasten off and weave in all ends.

Retro Ruffles!