Saturday, May 22, 2010

Painted Mountain Shawl

This shawl crocheting thing has become a little bit of an addiction. In fact, I love making them so much that I joined the "10 shawls in 2010 challenge" over at Ravelry a couple of months ago. There is a small, friendly, incredibly supportive crocheting bunch over there, and I not only want to marry them all, I also want to emulate their shawly awsomeness.

Painted Mountain Shawl

This here, the Painted Mountain Shawl by Vicki Mikulak, is my third shawl for the year. It took me exactly a week to make it, and I used a skein of Noro Kureyon Sock and a 4 mm hook.

Painted Mountain Shawl

I found Noro Kureyon Sock to be incredibly nasty yarn to crochet with. My hands never get sore with crochet, but this yarn made them sore for the first time ever. The yarn goes from being cobweb thin to chunky thickness, often in only a few inches. While the colour changes were incredible and lots of fun to watch, I had only one thought while I made this shawl.

"I hope it blocks out OK."

Painted Mountain Shawl

And it did. Thank heavens. A good half hour soak in some Softly and an overnight stretch being pinned out on the spare bed, and it bloomed quite nicely, evening out the yarn a little. It is still not very soft, but I'm not wearing it close to my skin so it's OK. And it looks pretty, especially with a purple shirt underneath it.

11 comments:

  1. Oh, that's so pretty - and perfect with your pretty skirt and those autumn leaves. Must, must refind my crochet skills!

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  2. I'm in awe of being able to make something like that... wow!

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  3. It looks great!

    Every skein of Noro I've ever considered was too prickly!

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  4. dude it looks ace!
    and matches beatifully with your gorgeous skirt too! =)

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  5. It looks gorgeous. Yay for a colourful winter!

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  6. Yes, the Noro is pretty but not so much fun to use, I think!

    I love how it looks in the first photo especially! Stunning colours.

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  7. It's gorgeous! But I completely agree with you about the noro - I'm crocheting a scarf with it at the moment, and it keeps twisting really tightly which means I have to keep hanging my work off about a metre of yarn and letting it spin it like you sometimes need to with a telephone cord. Very annoying, and not great for the completion motivation!

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  8. Love the openness of the stitchwork, makes it look light and airy. Wonderful colours too.

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  9. That's lovely! I've never liked any of the Noro to knit with. I don't get the hype - except perhaps for the colouring. Its pretty speccy.

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  10. Winner! The long colour changes match the shawl pattern really well.

    I don't mind the texture of Noro Kureyon Sock too much, but I always get irritated with how it twists back on itself. So much so I have been known to give it a stern talking to. It didn't work.

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  11. You're a master with the hook!

    I love the yarn that you've used!

    Well done!

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