A few weeks ago, Scheepjes launched one of their Yarn: The After Party pattern booklets and this particular one features my design: the Away Day Shawl! I wrote a blog post about it and you’ll find it here. And I made another one… a Summer Edition!
The original design is made using the beautiful and squishy Merino Soft, which is one of my favourite Scheepjes yarns. It is a wool blend and therefore nice and warm. Perfect for a winter shawl, but maybe a little bit too warm for summer! Since my original version now lives at Scheepjes HQ, I decided to make another one and play with another one of their yarns at the same time: Linen Soft.
The Yarn
Using a different yarn than the one suggested in the pattern sometimes means making adjustments to that pattern to get a similar result. Now, both yarns are classified as DK weight yarns. However, the fibre content is completely different. Let’s compare them:
| Merino Soft | Linen Soft | |
| Fibre content | 50% Wool Superwash Merino x 25% Microfiber x 25% Acrylic | 27% Linen x 47% Cotton x 26% Acrylic |
| Ball weight | 50g | 50g |
| Length | 105m | 135m |
| Recommended Needle/Hook | 4-5mm | 3,5mm |
You’ll notice that the yarns have a completely different fibre content. The fibres on their own have a different weight. The wool content in the Merino Soft yarn probably makes the yarn heavier than the (almost equal) amount of cotton in the Linen Soft yarn. That results in a different length per 50g: 105m compared to 135m.
Another difference is the character of the yarn (or the thread) itself: the Merino Soft yarn is bouncy and squishy. It contains air. You can squeeze the yarn and it will bounce back. The Linen Soft yarn, however, is much more solid. It doesn’t bounce that much when you squeeze it, it is much more compact.
The Making
Where does this analysis lead to? Well, the original shawl (using the Merino Soft yarn) is designed to be made with a 6,0mm crochet hook. That works for the combination of the stitch pattern and yarn choice. But it doesn’t work for the Linen Soft yarn. The result would become much too loose. So, I decided to use a smaller hook size for my summer version. Changing the hook size influences the size of the finished shawl: switching from a 6,0mm crochet hook to a 5,0mm hook makes for a smaller shawl.
I didn’t want my Summer Edition to be smaller than the original shawl, so I had to make a small adaption to the pattern. Scheepjes kindly allowed me to share that adjustment with you so you can give this yarn a try too. You will find the pattern adaption at the end of this post.
It was, once again, a lovely project to work on. I do have to admit that I really had to refer to the pattern again… it had completely slipped my mind! But after a few repeats the pattern was back in my head and it just a matter of mindless crochet again…
Ta-dah!
My husband and I did a little photo shoot last weekend and we combined it with our regular dog walk. The pond in the background is Bono’s favourite spot to drink some water during our walk! The bench was recently placed there and it’s a lovely spot for a little pause. Now, let’s take a look at the result!
I am in love with my new Summer Edition of the Away Day Shawl! As I mentioned at the beginning, it was the first time that I used the Linen Soft yarn. At first, it is not the softest of yarns and after blocking the shawl felt somewhat hard. I already knew that linen fibres become softer when you use or wear them and that certainly goes for this shawl too! It has a lovely drape and becomes softer each time that I wear it! I hope you’ll give it a try too!
Pattern Adaption for the Summer Edition
Materials
Yarn
Scheepjes Linen Soft (27% Linen x 47% Cotton x 26% Acrylic)
- Yarn A: 621 x 3 balls
- Yarn B: 610 x 3 balls
- Yarn C: 613 x 3 balls
Hook
5,0mm crochet hook
Pattern
YARN The After Party 92: Away Day Shawl
(published by Scheepjes / digitally available on Ravelry)
Pattern adaptions
- Work the pattern as described until row 55 (setup and finish the first Linen Stitch and Filet Stitch pattern repeat). From here on, add one extra Linen Stitch pattern repeat to each Linen Stitch section.
- Work the colour transition from yarn A to B according to the same scheme as used for the transition from B to C, finish the remaining rows of the section with yarn B.
The row numbers for each section are now:
- Starting section: rows 1-14
- Section A: rows 15-134
- Section B: rows 135-198
- Section C: rows 199-246
- Edging: row 247
The adjustments will compensate for the smaller hook size that is used and will make the shawl slightly larger. My finished version measures approx. 200cm along the diagonal edge (compared to 190cm in the original version).
You can, of course, use this pattern adjustment also for making a really large woollen version by using the original yarn (Merino Soft). In that case, you will need one extra ball of yarn of each colour, i.e. four balls per colour instead of three!
No Comments