Durango Shawl

When we went to Colorado a few weeks ago, I went prepared with a list of yarn shops in the areas near where we were staying. We went to the Southwest corner of Colorado and there's not much there. So, there weren't a lot of choices and some of those were out of business or not yet opened for business. But, I did find one...It was "Shadow Ranch Fiber Hut" in Cortez. It was about a block off of the main highway. It's small but had some pretty yarns and the owner was very nice.


I purchased two balls of Plymouth "Sockin' Sox" in colors that reminded me of Colorado...green trees, blue skies, the earth...


I searched through patterns for just the right shawl that would have just enough substance to keep me warm...after all, this was going to be my Durango/Colorado shawl...and just lacey enough to make it beautiful, special, and keep it from having that stereotypical "crochet" look. I decided on the "Mock Foroese Shawl" by Lily Chin. I quickly got started using a size "J" hook. Here's how it turned out...


I'm ecstatic about the size. It's exactly what I was hoping for and took less than 870 yards. It's 66" wide at the top and 33" long at the center back.


It's hard to capture it's true beauty in pictures but I did the best I could.


Here it is being blocked...


Here's close up of it being blocked and of the edge detail...


Here it is before blocking...


And, after...


I wanted to add something a little more special to the edge than what was in the pattern. After experimenting with lots of border possibilities, I decided on a a shell type of stitch that works well with the rest of the shawl and has a picot at the ends for a nice finishing touch along the bottom. Here’s how I did it…

I ended on the even row of the repeat (the one with a full shell at the beginning and end). Then…ch 1, turn, sc in first stitch of the shell below, dc in second stitch, in the chain 1 opening of the shell below (dc 1, ch 4, slst in 4th chain from hook, dc 1), then dc in third stitch of shell below, sc in fourth. Repeat what is between the ’s. This repeat will always be on top and even with the shell below it. At the bottom point, there will be two of these picot shells. At the other end, the final sc of the last shell will be stitched into the third chain of the last post below.