A little while ago I spotted a crescent-shaped scarf/shawl and fell
in love; ever since I have been chomping at the bit to design one. This
couldn't be all that difficult, could it? Little did I realize what I
was getting myself into!
This adventure began at the beginning of
March. I decided that I wanted to have a curved ridge to mimic the
crescent shape and to give it a more modern look. Then, since I have
also fallen in love with gradient color schemes, I chose to use
Michael's Loops & Thread Woolike yarn in ivory, beige, and cool gray
with just one row of charcoal to strongly define the edge. Seemed like a
plan to me. Ha!
Gradient Color Bands
I am now on the third version of this scarf. (Amazingly, the yarn did
hold up to all my frogging.) At first I tried to figure this out by
myself and failed miserably. Then I found a free crescent pattern to
give me some guidance, but after a few rows I didn't like the extreme
"U" shape it was taking, so that was frogged. Then I tried my own
version, but that turned out too straight. Finally I came up with what I
have now, and I think it's going to be all right. Up to this point my
designs have been very simple, so I just wasn't ready for one to give me
such a fight!
There are still two problems, though. 1) It seems
that when you start a crescent shaped scarf with a short neck row, you
end up with a separately curved neckline from the body of the scarf (see
photo below). This has happened to me three times now. I've seen a
video where this was mentioned, but I also saw a photo of a full
crescent shawl without this problem, so I'm not sure if it's just me or
not. I am hoping that I can correct this with an inside edging of some
sort. 2) I wasn't thinking clearly enough to realize that on some row
ends I had three stitches and some I had four. The four makes a little
bump-out that I don't want (see top of photo below). I can easily
correct this in the written pattern, but I am hoping again that I can
correct this with the inside edging of some sort. (Insert deleted
expletive of your choice here.)
 |
| Wonky neckline and end of row bumps |
I have one or possibly two more sets of the three-color bands to go,
and then to come up with my miracle edging. But I won't give up on the
scarf/shawlette after this one is done, because I saw such wonderful
designs while researching this project that I'll just have to keep on
going!
P.S. - If anyone knows of a solution to the wonky neckline, PLEASE let me know. I will be forever in your debt.
