My first real crochet project (that wasn’t a scarf consisting of single crochet and a fringe).
This started as the Lapping Waves Shawl, by Fiber Spider (YouTube: https://youtu.be/f6LwO6XzGzY), but I wound up incorporating elements of Yarnspirations Go-To Crochet shawl after watching a video tutorial for that (YouTube: https://youtu.be/1XoBpKcv-HU).
While the Lapping Waves Shawl uses double crochet throughout, I switched to a treble crochet for the even/fan rows, as per the Go-To Shawl. I also borrowed the GT YouTuber’s tips for anchoring end posts to a chain, and I used his spacing on odd rows (chain-3 instead of chain-4, and chain-5 at the top). UNLIKE the Go-To shawl, I stuck to Lapping Waves’ back-post double crochets, instead of GT’s front-post doubles. Front-posts are a little faster and easier, but I liked the softer, overlapping feather look for this project. (Go-To Shawl makes scalloped shelves of fans that incorporate the entire V; Lapping Waves makes seemingly individual feather/scale fans.)
I plan to do a proper Go-To shawl in the future.
08-15-2020
This is an easy pattern, but it’s an exercise in determination and a test of my work ethic now that I’m in the outer rows. I can crochet for an hour and barely see any difference with over 45 fans in a single “V” (which is two rows, foundation and fan).
08-15-2020
Size-wise, I could almost call this finished, except it’s heavy, so I want more length to balance the weight when I wrap the ends around.
08-18-2020
It’s up to five colors now and about 55” wide, unstretched/unblocked. Wondering if this is the kind of project that benefits from blocking.
08-24-2020
Won my first game of Yarn Chicken on the next-to-last row. Left the ball a tiny skeleton still half in the form it used to hold. Muhaha! (See photo)
It was a return to the fourth color because I was running out of the fifth color and wanted to be sure I had enough to complete a final fan row.
08-24-2020
With the last of the sun, I believe I’ve finished this thing! I don’t have enough yarn for another set of foundation & fan rows, maybe just enough for an edging. I’ll reevaluate in the morning. Wow!
08-25-2020
Finished! 702 fans! It’s had its bath and is stretching out on the blocking mats as I type. (Hope I didn’t mess it up--it’s my first time blocking anything but a swatch.) I wound up giving it a SC edging along the top because seeing everything (seemingly) suspended on a single chain not only made me nervous, it also looked unfinished.