Holy Smokes!! Holey Smokes is here!!
I have wanted to design a crochet fade shawl for aaaages. It has been in my head for a while. I knew I wanted to make a Fade, I knew it had to have lacy bits and I knew I wanted crazy colours. For a long time I didn’t feel brave enough to sit down and do all the maths but a few weeks ago I made myself do it. There’s no point putting something off just because you’re a little bit worried. The only way to find out how it would go was to dive right in. Back in the spring I made Deanne’s Addydae Designs crochet Blurre Shawl (have a read) and this was another spur onwards (it’s so pretty, it’s so fadey!).
I love that knitting is embracing The Fade but, ehh, come on crochet! We need more! Sooo, Holey Smokes is my contribution. And I’m kind of working on another one too. Keep your eyes peeled. EDIT: (several months later…) The sequel: Smoke on the Water is HERE!!
The pattern is now for sale on Ravelry. You can find it HERE. I’ve put many more details over on Ravelry; you can find out more technical gubbins by jumping across. I also have a tutorial on YouTube for the Crossed Treble stitch. In the meantime, here are some sporadic thoughts about my fancy new crochet shawl…
I love the yarn! It’s Bluefaced Leicester (so hot right now!) and the colours are just amazing! I happened to stumble upon Somerset Yarns (I wish I could remember how). I absolutely knew that I had to get my hands on all those glorious colours. The fact that Tracey is relatively local to me (just over an hour away, in Bristol) is a coincidence. In fact, I’ve had a spate of buying local hand dyed yarn recently and all of it is coincidental.
Working up the pattern is pretty easy once you get to grips with the main stitches. In the pattern I have included written instructions, photographs and a chart. Between all of that you should be able to decipher the “Crossed Treble” stitch without too much trouble. I’ll be honest, It isn’t the easiest of stitches. I saw about 4 different ways of it being written before I decided to offer a fifth. It has been the biggest challenge in writing the pattern (I didn’t attempt it for three weeks after I made the shawl because I knew it’d be a monster). The pattern has been tested by five wonderful, beautiful, helpful (not to mention patient) people and I’ve had really positive feedback. Big, enormous thanks go to them, they spotted my silly mistakes, such as rows numbered the same as each other. Honestly, I don’t know how that happened!
I’m still having trouble photographing bright colours. The camera says “no”. You can get the gist, though. And we are talking bright colours. Really bright! In fact, I couldn’t help vocalising some choice words when I was hooking it up. That is why it’s called Holey Smokes. It’s a slightly tamer version of my initial exclamation. The “e” is there because the shawl has holes…
What do you reckon? I think it’s ace! I’ve got another one planned but I’m not sure when I’ll get cracking on it. Do you want to make one? Let me know. Cheers! X
xxx
It’s a beauty Rosina! Well done… 🙂 🙂 xx
😀 Thanks Eleonora! xx
It’s so pretty! The colours are just gorgeous 🙂
I’m so glad you like it! Thank you. x
Reblogged this on Yarnsage.
Very pretty 🙂
Thank you 😀
It’s fab and the colours really suit you! X
Thank you very much. x
Gorgeous Rosina!
Thanks! 😀
It’s beautiful! You can tell you are super excited about it, and rightly so.
Thanks Alida! I really hope it does well. I’m just really pleased I actually achieved a thing! 😀
Beautiful! Well done! I’l bet that feels awesome having done what you wanted! I really love it!
Thank you so much! It’s a strange feeling: relief and a sigh as I move on to the next thing! 😀
I understand … You climb the mountain – get to the top, feel awesome and then move on to the next challenge…sometimes I think it’s the process that I love so much… When I’m done sometimes I feel a let-down… 😐
Gorgeous!! I really like this one! Maybe after the Christmas madness is over I’ll get some nice crochet on the go again! Hope you sell loads of patterns 😘😘
Thank you very much! 😀
Yeah I’ve lost it a bit. Hiding in a cave is my current desire!!
Fingers crossed for pattern sales! xxx
If you find a nice cave with a comfy sofa let me know, I’ll join you there 😆
My fingers are crossed 🤞 xxx
Ok, it’s a deal! 😝
A really fun shawl that looks great…I love it!
Thank you, glad you like it!
Very pretty
Thank you very much! x
It’s so pretty and a good size, too, bigger than most and the better for it.
Thank you Sheila, it wraps around very cosily indeed! 😀