January 27, 2024
A few years ago, my neighbor gave me her late grandmother’s yarn, which had a lot of acrylic yarn, mostly white. Someone suggested that I should make something of the yarn to gift it back to my neighbor. Her grandmother was a crocheter. Even though I knew how to crochet, it was hard finding a crochet pattern to catch my attention.

Fast forward 3 years later, I caught a cold a week before Christmas and decided to play with acrylic yarn to cure that yarn crafting urge. While looking through patterns, the Lamia pattern caught my eye. Finally, a crochet pattern I want to try. I had a size 5mm Tunisian crochet hook (inherited from my mother), that I never used before. So I was delighted to try a new stitch design with a hook I never used. There was alot of white acrylic yarn in that yarn bag my neighbor gave me. So I worked with that.

It took me a couple of tries to start it, even with my cold brain. But I was determined to get it. Once I did, I continued the rest of the pattern with ease. It was a nice mindless project and I planned on crocheting until I used up at least 2 skeins of yarn. However I noticed how tight the stitches were. I thought that maybe it would be okay if I made it larger. But after finishing the second skein and trying it on, the shawl seemed too small and stiff to wrap around me. It was clear that I need to use a bigger size crochet hook. But with me being my only Tunisian crochet hook, this project will be hibernating until I get the correct size.

February 12, 2024
As a Valentine’s gift from my fiance, I recieved Sewrella’s Metal Tunisian Crochet Hooks set. This set has size 3.5mm to 8mm. So now I can explore the Tunisian stitch with any yarn weights. Grabbing the 6.5 hook, I casted on this shawl again. It feels more looser. I even made the waffle border be 20 stitches instead of 15.

July 31, 2024
Whenever I wanted to take a break from a project, I picked this shawl up, until eventually it was my only active project. I continued crocheting, letting the shawl grow larger. It wasn’t until after I added the fourth skein when I was ready to finish it. I waited until I used half of the fourth skein before doing 20 rows of the border. Even though I wanted to use as much yarn as I could, I didn’t want to play yarn chicken with this. I had more than enough to finish. There were yarn leftover. The shawl is large and thick enough to give a hug and that was my goal with this yarn. I love it. I hope my neighbor love it too.

664 grams used. 23 grams remaining.