Funny thing, this is the second shawl I have started in the past month or so, and I just realized that I don’t think I have mentioned the first shawl or even how my desire for making shawls started. I’ll start with my shawl stalking: While I have always thought shawls to be beautiful, I seriously wasn’t sure if I wanted to make one for the longest time. It’s not that I never made a shawl at all. In fact, back in the late 70s, I made a few as gifts, but back then, a cute shawl over a spaghetti strap sundress was considered chic. Today, I’m not so sure. Besides the blast from the past feeling they gave me, I also envisioned the old grandmother scenario. I’m pushing the big 5 – 0, so the grandma look is not something I look forward to.

However, the more I kept seeing them around in books and on-line, the more I came to realize that I could definitely use one, even though I live where it’s warm. My husband and I tend to play tag with the thermostat, and that means I’m usually freezing in the house while it’s 90 degrees outside. He’s wearing shorts and a t-shirt, and I’m wearing sweats and a hat and scarf! What better reason to wear a shawl then?

I will skip the shawl # 1 story for now and move on to how I started shawl # 2. I originally bought the yarn I’m using for it (Marks & Kattens Big Trend, 70% acrylic and 30% wool in a shade called “Parti”) during my last LYS trip with the idea that I would make a hat with it. I briefly showed the pattern to the store owner, and she saw that it used self-striping yarn, so she brought me over to this yarn, which came in this purple/green colorway as well as a blue mix. This was the closest she had, and so I bought it. Last weekend, I finally decided to at least start the hat, but as I started trying to work with this yarn, I realized that the hook size (a K) was just too big. It felt weird. The hat was a no-go.

Well, shoot, what was I going to do with this beautiful yarn that I had been dying to touch and play with? Of course, I went to where else but Ravelry.com for help. I looked the yarn up under the “yarns” tab and looked to see what other Ravelry folks had made with it and found not only the exact yarn but THE perfect project: a ripple shawl using this yarn. Since the original pattern used different yarn, I emailed the Ravelry user and asked her if two skeins of the Big Trend would be enough and she said it would be plenty. Yeah, again!

As you can see from the picture, this is turning out great. The self-striping yarn is doing it’s thing, and the ripple pattern is so easy to do. This is a fairly larger project than I usually like to take on, but I think I can stick it out. Oh, and the best part is that I’m actually making something for myself for a change. This is not going to be a gift or donated to a charity. It’s for ME!