Cabaret Shawl

This week I was asked to make a few items for display at work. I don't usually work from printed patterns so enjoy the chance to play with different types of yarn and different ways of interpreting printed patterns; it's funny how they all read slightly differently. The first item I decided to make is a crocheted shawl by Stylecraft in their Cabaret DK yarn. I really love Stylecraft yarns and have a constant supply of their Special DK acrylic yarn to hand but had never seen this particular one before. It is still an acrylic based yarn (98% acrylic and 2% polyester) but is super soft and with a strand of metallic running through it which gives a strange combination of soft and itchy when it runs through your fingers. This particular colour way is 3577 Autumn Dazzle and has a beautiful range of purple, pink, orange, red, green and cream alternating through it.

The pattern itself isn't very complicated (number 9187) but is quite involved as every fourth row is made up of loops of 10 chain stitches in every stitch of the previous round. It creates a nice texture with the flatter rows of treble stitches making up the rest of the stripes, and the chain stitches fan out at the point which is very pretty.

There are 47 rows in total, although I have come to a bit of a snag in the pattern in that I have run out of yarn. The pattern allows for 4 balls of the Cabaret with the correct tension, and I have measured and re-measured to check that my tension is as suggested and all seems fine, but I still have two and a bit rounds to go- one of them the wool eating 10 chain loop round which is designed to create a fringing around the edge. So this is as far as I am able to go until I can get my hands on another ball of yarn.

The booklet also includes another pattern for a scarf along similar design lines to the shawl but so far I haven't been asked to make it. The images on the cover show alternative colour ways of the Cabaret DK yarn though which look just as lovely as the Autumn Dazzle. The shawl in the image has been made up in 3570 Sunset, and the scarf in 3572 Rainbow. Could you imagine yourself wrapped up in one of these?