I wasn't surprised when Rebecca asked me if I could make her a shawl: with all the shawls she's seen me crochet recently, it seemed only natural that she'd want one for herself. What surprised me was how overjoyed she was when I said she could pick the yarn herself. After searching through my stash of yarns, she came up with two leftover balls: fine fluffy mohair ("oh, so soft!", she declared hugging to her cheek), in burgundy and light blue. I'd never have thought of crocheting those two colors together, but the combination turned out lovely. So lovely, in fact, that I'll probably be making something in that color combination for myself, too.
I knew just what pattern to use for Rebecca's first shawl: the very pretty New Beginnings Shawl by Renee Barnes, which Renee had kindly shared with me (you can find her designs on Ravelry here, and on her website Crochet Renee'. This year she's doing a "12 shawls in 2012" project, aiming to design a new shawl each month - how creative is that? Renee's New Beginnings Shawl is a beautiful triangular design, made with a "petal" motif that I found so pretty, I decided to crochet it all the way around the shawl as an edging.
Rebecca was very impatient while I worked on her shawl, and once it was completed, she proudly marched off to show it to her brothers. They were dubious, and commented: "But, honestly, how is it going to keep you warm with all those holes?!". Rebecca gave me a quick, knowingly look, as if to say, "See how much I have to put up with, with two big brothers?" Then she explained to them how the "holes" were called "lace."
And she proceeded to demonstrate how a lacy shawl is used:
... around the waist, of course! I like this shot: Rebecca wearing her shawl in her own beginner's way (she now wears it over her shoulders), over her crochet Bobble dress worn back to front (will she ever learn?), while carrying around a fabric bear (similar to this) which I just made for a little friend, that she's trying surreptitiously to convince me that I actually made for her, because, look!, she loves it so much (not sure yet who will win this battle).
