The Havana Shawl is a variant of my Havana Afghan, which was a Pippin Crochet Club CAL in 2018. Both are worked with the wonderful mosaic crochet technique.

If you liked the Havana Afghan, I hope you’ll like this one too. I used the same pattern sequence for the shawl as the blanket and really just wanted to make a similar project that was a bit more manageable in size and easier to work on the go!

you can find a video tutorial for this Shawl on my YouTube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keeSa2jivTQ&t=628s

I first came to know the mosaic crochet technique through the lovely Apache Tears blanket pattern, and when I started playing around with it, my Havana Afghan came to light. At the time I was living in Havana (like I am now) and I wanted to make a big piece inspired by this uniquely colorful and beautiful city. When walking the streets of Havana, it’s inevitable to be inspired by the multitude of patterns and colors that meet your eyes everywhere you look! As a Nordic, I am not used to this in my surroundings (we tend to be a bit more organized up there!) so what always astounds me is how all the different and mismatching tiles, colors and patterns then all come together and make a beautiful colorful whole. That was the inspiration for my Havana Afghan and consequently my Havana Shawl; a lot of different colors and patterns, that then come together as a whole.

Yarn

you can use any yarn you like for this shawl and it’s perfect for scraps.

For a big juicy shawl, I recommend worsted weight yarn that fits hook no. 5 mm, like the one I used for my big multicolored Havana shawl you can see here.
For example, Red Heart Soft (100% acryl, 1 skein is 141 g = 234 m)
Then you will need 2 skeins for color A and 2 skeins for color B

For a medium sized shawl, you can use DK weight yarn and hook no. 4 mm.
for example, Stylecraft Special DK (100% acrylic, 1 skein is 100 g = 295 m)
Then you will need: 2 skeins for each color (and you will have enough left to work the extension if you like).

For a small light shawl, I recommend fingering weight yarn that fits hook no 3.5 mm, like I used for my small “two colored” version.
for example Supersoft 96 (100 % pure new wool, 50 g =287m)
Then you will need 1 skein for each color, but note that I used up both skeins almost exactly, so there was none left for the tassels.

Sizes

The big shawl measures approx. 150 cm (59”) wide and 75 cm (30“) long

The medium shawl measures approx. 135 cm (54”) wide and 65 cm (25“) long

The small shawl measures approx. 115 cm (45”) wide and 50 cm (20“) long

Note that the pattern also includes an extension to make the shawl bigger, these are the measurements for the original size.

Gauge

17 stitches and 17 rows = 10 cm, using crochet hook no. 5 mm.
23 stitches and 23 rows = 10 cm, using crochet hook no. 3.5 mm.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ST = stitch
SS = slip stitch
CH = chain stitch
SC = single crochet
DC = double crochet

Colorworks

The shawl is striped the whole way through, and each round is worked with only one color at a time. Work one round in color A and then one round in color B, alternating with each round. I recommend always using contrasting colors for A and B, that way the patterns pop more.

This pattern really offers a great many color possibilities! The shawl has 7 different mosaic patterns so there are so many variations you can go with.

You can always just work it with only 2 or 3 colors. Here you can see my attempt to make a 2 color version, but I ran out of color B so I had to mix it up a bit at the end.

In the original Havana Afghan I used 2 colors for each pattern and then changed both colors with each new pattern.

It also gives a beautiful result to work the shawl with one main color (A) and then alternate color B with each new pattern. Or even use up scraps for color B and let that one fade or change according to what you have at hand in your stash.

Working both A and B with an ombre color gradient yarn gives a great look as well.

Finally, in my Big Multicolored Havana Shawl I worked it all with scraps and my stash, using the double color fade technique. Then you start with one color for A and another for B and let them both fade, always bearing in mind that there is a good contrast between colors A and B. I explain this double color fade technique in detail in my YouTube video: Havana CAL – Introduction and color technique, if you are interested in working the Havana shawl using your stash.

General instructions

The shawl is all worked from the front side, from right to left, so at the end of each round you break off the yarn. Therefore, there are lots of ends, but no worries, since the shawl is all worked with single crochet rows, it’s quite enough to just work over your ends at the beginning and end of each row and no need to weave them all in with a darning needle. Check out the beginning of my YouTube tutorial: Havana CAL, double border and tails, to see how this is done.

This pattern is an all written pattern, but with a lot of progress photos so you can check and see if everything looks correct!

If you need any help with the pattern, please join us in my Facebook group, where me and my wonderful admin team will be happy to help you!:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TinnaCrochetClub