I am so excited for this Thursday! I'm sure anyone who has looked at my website or social media will know how much I love flowers, especially crocheted flowers. If I can find a place for one in a project, I certainly will! Well, this Thursday a pattern I created that is absolutely brimming with flowers is being released. The pattern for Flower Basket Shawl will be available in Crochet Now Magazine! Creating both pattern and sample has been great fun, right from coming up with a picnic themed design for the magazine’s spring issue, developing a pattern and seeing the sample come to life in the lovely soft cotton yarn supplied by Jody Long Yarns and having the opportunity to work together with a very lovely sample maker, Christine Mackinnon @stitchingintheditch who helped me out with a tight deadline by making the light pink blossom and blue chain flowers used in the sample.
I came up with the design and called it the Flower Basket Shawl because the texture of the basketweave stitch and the wide flower filled border reminded me of picking flowers on a sunny day. Sometimes I find it hard working on magazine makes so far ahead of the season they are intended for, like woolly autumn knits during the hot days of August but just imagine how lovely it was to fill my days with flowers during a cold grey February! I hope this shawl will bring a similar joyfulness to your wardrobe.
Pattern: Flower Basket Shawl
Published in: Crochet Now, issue 94
Yarn: Jody Long Cottontails
The shawl has a dense basketweave stitch main section to keep out any cool spring breezes but, being cotton it won't be too hot for summer days either. The flowers on the ends are fun and motivating to work and use varied techniques so you won't get bored. They are also great portable projects for anyone who likes to crochet on the go. I absolutely loved commuter crafting when I travelled daily to central London and these days I still get the chance for a few minutes spent crafting when I'm waiting for the children's dance class or friend's party to finish.
I really enjoyed coming up with the designs for all the flowers and working out the stitches that would turn the yarn into the pictures of them I had in my head and working on the sample as the shawl grew bigger and bigger was like crocheting myself into a lovely cosy blanket each evening. It's so lovely and warm.
The day I fastened all the flowers to the borders was the most memorable for me. I came down to a beautifully blocked shaw after leaving it pinned out overnight and laid it out with little piles of each type of flower alongside. It was so much fun to arrange the flowers like a giant jigsaw until they fully covered the border sections and then tie and finally stitch them in place. It looked exactly as I'd hoped and I was delighted with it. Maggie the mannequin seemed pleased to have the chance to wear the colourful shawl too, as I checked how the flowers behaved during wear, but then it was still pretty cold in the garden and she wasn't wearing anything else!
The yarn was a new one to me. I hadn't encountered anything quite like it before and it was absolutely perfect for the shawl. It felt amazingly soft to work with and gentle on the hands and the way it combined both fluffiness and a smooth sheen that catches the light was quite amazing. I am very excited to think of creating a small project with the leftovers!
Crochet Now Issue 94 is on sale in shops across the UK from Thursday 28th April. To find your nearest stockist, use the store finder on Seymour or order online from Craft Stash. You can also purchase a digital edition of the magazine via the PocketMags app.
Do let me know if you make the shawl or even use some of the flower patterns. I'm always so excited when I see that someone has used one of my patterns!