Cherry Blossom Festival Shawl

This pattern is extremely easy to learn and memorize, and is entirely made up of very simple stitches save for one, the p3tog (puff stitch 3 together). This stitch is a little bit of a challenge at first, but I supply handy tricks to make it easy. You will catch on quickly, and because you will do a lot of them, become such an expert at it as your hook flies through the air doing magical things that you will awe your crochet buddies with your prowess, reveling in their undying love and admiration forever more as they bestow upon you the awesome title of P3tog Queen. You’re welcome.

Size:
Approximately 18.5” x 83” (47cm x 211cm), length is customizable.

Yarn:
Caron Simply Soft in Blackberry (5 skeins, 315yds, worsted 4) or any light worsted (4) or DK (3) yarn with a nice drape and good stitch definition.

Hooks:
I-9 5.5mm slick acrylic or metal hook with a long throat
7 4.5mm hook (metal is recommended)

Inline hooks are best for this project, + or - .5mm changes in hook sizes won’t be an issue with suggested yarn.

About the Pattern:
When I was a little girl living on Long Island we had a Japanese flowering cherry tree in our backyard. I spent hours of my childhood playing under that tree, I loved it with all my heart. My mother loved it too, I remember her adorning my hair with its blossoms. That tree was beautiful and very special to me, even always flowering for my birthday in May. It was the end of the blooming cycle that was the most magical time of all, however; I would sit under it and play as the soft pink sakura petals would rain down around me like fairytale snow.

When I was 11 my father changed jobs and we had to move away from New York. I was devastated as I had to leave my best friend Bethann, and the only home I’d ever known, both of which I desperately loved. Even worse, my parents sold our house to a well-known neighborhood landscaper. I still remember tearfully begging him to please not cut down my tree.

Less than a year passed before I got to go back and visit my best friend. My worst fears were realized and my beloved tree had been removed to make way for an inground pool.

Thirty years later when my husband and I finally bought a house and moved to Pennsylvania, the first tree I planted was a flowering cherry in honor of my mother. It still stands right outside our second story bedroom window and is now well over 20 feet tall. The blooms in the background of the picture above are hers in April of 2019. I created this pattern to recognize both of the very special trees that have brought me long moments of serenity over the course of my life, by doing nothing more than simply existing and giving me the chance to thoroughly enjoy their delicate pastel beauty.