Laura Strutt - Modern crocheted shawls & wraps : 35 stylish ways to keep warm from lacy shawls to chunky wraps

MODERN CROCHETEDSHAWLS & WRAPSMODERN CROCHETEDSHAWLS & WRAPSSTYLISH WAYS TO KEEP WARM FROM
LACY SHAWLS TO CHUNKY WRAPSLAURA STRUTT Dedicated to Charlotte Styles and Hazel Cruickshank, my Granny and Grandma, for filling my childhood with knitting, crochet and all kinds of crafts, even though I probably didn't pay as much attention as I should have! Published in 2016 by CICO Books An imprint of Ryland Peters & Small Ltd 2021 Jockeys Fields 341 E 116th St London WC1R 4BW New York, NY 10029 www.rylandpeters.com 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Text Laura Strutt 2016 Design, photography and illustration CICO Books 2016 The authors moral rights have been asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress and the British Library. ISBN: 978-1-78249-311-2 E-ISBN: 978-1-78249-624-3 Printed in China Editor: Rachel Atkinson Pattern checker: Jemima Bicknell Designer: Geoff Borin Photographer: Emma Mitchell and Penny Wincer Stylist: Nel Haynes Art director: Sally Powell Head of production: Patricia Harrington Publishing manager: Penny Craig Publisher: Cindy Richards CONTENTS A crochet shawl is a colourful way to liven up your wardrobe: from classic triangle shawls, rectangular wraps and capes, to cowls and cover-ups, there is something for every style and season. Not only can these stylish pieces complete your look in an instant, there is often nothing quite as comforting as wrapping oneself up in a sumptuous hand-crocheted wrap and the larger ones can double up as throws, to be draped over sofas or beds.

Crochet is one of my favourite creative pastimes. With its wide variety of stitches, techniques and creative possibilities, it is both a relaxing and calming pursuit and a challenging yet hugely rewarding craft. There is also great satisfaction to be had from creating your own garments to wear, and shawls can be worn by all of us, regardless of body shape, size, age, gender or personal style. What I love most about shawls is that these clever accessories can really transform a look and the classic shapes and structure give so many options for colours, stitch patterns, techniques and even construction, to create a unique wearable piece. When I created this collection of 35 modern crochet shawl designs I wanted to offer something for everyone, from cosy capes such as On the Moors, and chunky makes like the Archers Cowl, to feminine cover-ups and clever constructions as seen in Rose Garden and Eternally Green. Crocheted shawls and wraps are a fabulous way to try out new techniques, like making yo-yos for the Yo-yo Throw, or granny hexagons for piecing together a Pansies and Fuchsias geometric throw.

As well as being able to try a wealth of techniques and stitch designs when creating your shawl, you can also have lots of fun with colour: try creating ombr effects as used for Soft Summer Night, make a statement with colour blocks for Navajo Sunrise or even raid your stash for the mix-and-match design of Stash-buster Stripes. The possibilities are endless! I hope that this modern collection of crochet shawls will win its way into your heart as you fill your wardrobe and your home with wonderful handmade creations! Happy Crocheting! Laura Crochet shawls, wraps and throws are very satisfying projects to make not only are you able to try out a range of different techniques and stitch patterns, but you also create a unique handmade accessory to wear with pride! The projects in this book are great as statement accessories or cosy cover-ups, or simply for a flash of pick-me-up colour! Whats more, because these are all one size makes, they are ideal for any body shape, size, gender or age and also make ideal and thoughtful gifts for friends and family. TIPS and HINTS Many of the patterns use multiple shades of yarns, in repeated motifs like the Pansies and Fuchsias geometric throw (). Colour changes will leave lots of yarn ends to weave in, which can be very time consuming, so try to weave in the ends as you work to make the process of finishing your project quicker and easier. Locking stitch markers make a great addition to your crochet tool kit and are used in a number of projects featured throughout this book including Paintbox Palette (). Placing a marker in a key stitch, such as the central spine of a shawl, or increase and shaping points, will help you to keep track of where you are in a row, or you can use them to indicate where buttons should be stitched.

Remember to move the stitch marker up with each row or use two in tandem with one another. Safety pins can be used at a pinch, but mind they dont snag or leave rust marks on your crochet fabric. Crochet shawls benefit hugely from blocking once complete; not only does blocking help the pieces to lay neatly and to the given measurements, it also opens up the stitches to really show off the pretty details of your hard work and gives a professional finish. You can block your finished make either with steam from the iron, or by soaking in lukewarm water and pinning into shape to dry. Remember to check the ball band of the yarn for specific details on washing the yarn, and take care when steaming acrylic and acrylic blend yarns as they can easily stretch out of shape wet blocking will be a much better option. Cotton and silk yarns can be blocked firmly to encourage the fibres to sit neatly in place.

Some of the projects in this book are quite large, for example the Yo-yo Throw (). The scale of these makes can initially be daunting, but breaking them down into sections of different stitch pattern repeats or colours will give you smaller goals to work towards Ill just do one more section in yarn A or five more repeats of this two-row stitch pattern and so on. It is very important, particularly for the larger single-colour projects, that you have enough yarn before starting. Buying all the required yarn in one go can be expensive but it will mean you have balls or skeins from the same dye lot. Different dye lots can vary slightly in colour and changes in dye lots partway through a project will be noticeable. Almost all the makes featured in this book can easily be sized up or down by working fewer or more repeats of the stitch patterns, or simply by selecting a finer or chunkier yarn and matching with the appropriate hook size.