Sunday, 4 June 2017

My Greek Zig Zag Shawl

I was lucky enough to have the chance to visit Greece recently, the Greek islands in particular. What a stunningly beautiful place. The people are the kindest, most welcoming I've ever met.

Before we went I decided to make my own tribute to the beautiful island of Santorini by making a shawl in some of the colours found on the island. I chose a pattern by Drops/Garnstudio and wanted to do deep blue to signify the tops of the buildings, white for the walls of the buildings and a paler blue to signify the blue of the sea and sky. I bought Drops Safran yarn but sadly the 'ice blue' I chose turned out to be a mint green colour so I had to use only the turquoise and white.


I'm pleased with how it turned out and in this picture you can see Fira, the capital of Santorini, high on the top of the hill above my shawl.
If there are any Greek readers here, thank you for letting me visit your beautiful country, you should be very proud of it and all your hospitality.


Now for the pattern review ....

The pattern was Drops design 146-6 Edelweiss shawl and is available for free: https://www.garnstudio.com/pattern.php?id=6010&cid=17

The pattern suggested two strands of yarn group 'A' but as I wanted a lightweight shawl I decided to try it using a single strand of 4ply Safran. It came out fine and I used a 3.5 mm hook.

It took 3 balls of White (Safran 50g) and 4 balls of Turquoise (Safran 50g)

Like I said the colours I wanted to use sadly turned out not suitable but I was happy with the two tone result. I do love Safran yarn, it is smooth and easy to crochet with, it does not split like some cotton yarns. It has a beauitful sheen to it on finished items.

The pattern is easy to understand using basic stitches and due to the repetition it means that after a while you don't need to keep referring to the pattern because you get into a good rhythm of working, it grew very fast and was completed within a week.

You begin at the back neck with a magic ring or a few joined chains, and the shawl grows outwards and downwards as you work therefore you can make it as big or small as you wish simply by working to the size you want.

It is weighty enough to feel warm on a cool evening but the cotton yarn means it does not feel too hot around you if the weather does turn warmer.


You could experiment using any yarn, I'm sure the results would be just as beautiful.

Happy crocheting!


___________________________________________________



___________________________________________________