It's been awhile since I last linked up with My Creative Space, mainly because I've (clearly) been finding it challenging to figure out some kind of a regular posting schedule that I can stick with. But I do visit from time to time as it's always fun to see what other creative types are up to. This is what's just come out of my creative space.
summer shrug
It's a little shrug that was super easy to make as it's basically just a rectangle, folded in half and joined on either side to form the sleeves.
I used some black Álafoss Einband, which is a beautiful lace-weight Icelandic wool, from my stash. This took almost exactly two balls (good thing, as that's all I had). I crocheted mine in a twin-v stitch (instructions from Harmony Guides 101 Stitches to Crochet), but you could easily make something similar in pretty much any stitch pattern, in either crochet or knit. It's actually a great project for experimenting with new stitches or combinations.
Using a 2.5mm hook, I made a chain long enough to reach across my shoulders and back from one sleeve cuff to the other, based on roughly how long I wanted the sleeves to be (for my shrug, this was about 120 stitches). I crocheted the stitch pattern until the rectangle was the width I wanted (about 35 rows for mine), folded the whole thing in half lengthwise and joined the two edges together, stopping at where the underarm would be (for me this was 20 stitches or so) and repeating on the other side to make sleeves.
summer shrug sleeve detail
You could stop here, weave in your ends and be done, but I kept going and crocheted a row of sc all the way around, then a couple more rows of dc to kind of "finish" it off. I did the same thing around the sleeve cuffs, decreasing a few stitches in the first round of sc. Weaved in all the ends and voila! A new summer shrug!
summer shrug label
After washing and blocking the yarn got much so much softer and lovelier. I even stuck one of my new labels in it just because I thought it was pretty!
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