Pink Home Shrug

I have been working on this shrug in one form or another for about 12 months. Last year I was mostly finished but was unhappy with it so unraveled it. I'm so glad its finished, and just in time for Autumn here in Australia.

a simple home shrug in pink pure wool

A shrug like this is quite easy to make, but this one took a long time to do because I used a 3.5mm hook and some pink 5 ply pure wool my mum gave me. She gave me so much, I still have a few balls left. For the shrug to fit around the tops of my arms the starting rectangle had to be quite wide. I didn't do any shaping in the sleeves, I wish I had because I'm not happy with how the cuffs and sleeves are very wide.

detail of the scallop collar

Once you make the large rectangle, you join up the sleeves at each end leaving the centre open. I then finished with an edge of simple scallops. Then I washed it to block it and it stretched, so I had to do it again. Luckily it snapped back to shape. Phew!

Two Square Shrug

Well, I spent a fair bit more time on this than I should have! Because I wasn't sure if the two squares would work, I kept unravelling my work, to make the squares smaller or larger. In the end I settled on making the squares quite tight so they would pull tighter at the back, and not buckle up like they do if the squares were larger.

shrug made with two granny squares joined together then extended for sleeves

For this simple shrug, I used a 4mm hook and three 50g balls of 5 ply pure white wool my mum gave me. I kept the shrug simple, deciding not to add the shells along the collar like I did about three times and had to unravel as I resized my work. I kept it simple because when this shrug is folded in half long ways it can double as a generously sized long and thick scarf. Not that I will use it as a scarf, but you never know when I might need another one!

the simple shrug can be folded lengthways to make a warm scarf

It starts off as two granny squares joined together to make a bolero shrug. For this shrug, my granny squares have 13 rounds, this would depend on how tight you want your shrug around the tops of your arms. My arms are a bit big, so if you were making a shrug for yourself, you would need to check that the corners of the granny square meet around you shoulders. After the two granny squares are joined on one side, the opposite corners are joined to form armholes. Check that the squares pull neatly across the back of your shoulders, then you add sleeves to your desired length. I went this long because that's all I had left of this white yarn. I just wove in the ends with a hook instead of sewing them in with a needle, just in case I change my mind again!

this yarn was originally half a pair of fingerless gloves

I've had this yarn for a while, and at first I thought I would make some fingerless gloves. I started by making the first of the pair, thinking that perhaps I could have them for sale in my online shop. I found this fingerless gloves pattern from pinterest that I thought looked nice. But I decided they weren't nice enough to become wedding gloves, so I undid them so I could use the yarn in my white shrug.

Apricot Angora Shrug

The beautiful apricot coloured angora that I got on special from Lincraft has been calling me, so I've turned it into this lovely lacey shrug!

a simple shrug made from imported Angora

I made this pattern up, which is based on another shrug I made. This time I made the cuffs in rounds of 10 rows, then used a new pretty lacey stitch for the body of the shrug. I'm really happy with how the lacey part turned out, and I'm glad I now have this stitch in my repertoire. I used the 'shell trellis' lace stitch on page 95 of a book I borrowed from the library called 'Crochet Basics' by Jan Eaton.

lace detail of my shrug

The pattern for a basic shrug is very simple. I use a fine and hairy wool, like angora or winter warmth from Lincraft, and a large hook (5mm). This makes a very 'loose' stitch. It uses just over 1 x 50g ball of yarn.

An easy guide to making a crochet shrug

1. First Cuff - ch 54, sl st to form circle, make 10 rows of trebles (US dc), check the circle is large enough to go up your arm to above your elbow - I made a ridge on every 3rd stitch

2. Lacey Body - increase 1 every 6 st, use any nice light and airy lacey stitch you like, do not join, turn, make this section about 60cm long

3. Second Cuff - decrease 1 every 6 st, sl st to form circle, make 10 rows of trebles (US dc) - repeat any pattern used in first cuff

folded shrug

Easy and ready for spring!
<3 <3

Purple Bolero Shrug

It took me a week or two, doing a bit now and then while we were watching tv in the evenings, to finish this bolero shrug. This is the first crochet thing I've made to wear, other than beanies and scarves!

bolero shrug, pattern by Lincraft

I used the pattern from the Lincraft booklet I bought a month or so ago. I bought the book for this pattern specifically, as I've been looking for free patterns on the net and haven't had much luck with them working out or being simple enough for me to follow. I tried one pattern and it was totally epic fail! I had trouble starting this one too, and in the end settled on buying the specific wool stated in the pattern from Lincraft, because they won't tell you what ply the wool is. This is a purple "Winter Warmth" wool which cost $3 for 50g, and it used just over one ball so there is some left over as I got two balls. Maybe I can make a nice little beanie or something with what's left?

Now I know the pattern I think I could make this again with other wool... hopefully! Making this bolero shrug taught me how to do raised ridges which you can see at the cuffs. I've been enjoying adding this new stitch to a couple of other projects I've done since, like a beanie and a doll's dress, which I will post about soon.