One of the recent Designers’ Challenges on Ravelry was to create a lacy shrug. I had never made a shrug before, but their definition was that it should be a rectangle or square that was then folded in half and seamed to create the garment. So simple! No making separate sleeves or having to put stitches on holders temporarily. It’s just one large piece and a bit of seaming.
A lot of the designs I saw were taller than they were wide before folded down and they were seamed through just part of the resulting end circles (it’s hard to describe but you can see an example here at Lion Brand). I wanted something with longer sleeves and a bit more form-fitting / less slouchy, so the version I came up with was wider from side-to-side and shorter in height. I also didn’t seem at the folded end. Mine is seamed where to the top and bottom meet, leaving the middle section open.
Again, difficult to explain without diagrams :-), but maybe this picture helps. This is what the seam of the arm looks like. You don’t really see it when it is worn because it mostly falls underneath the arm.
Ugh. Not a very flattering picture of me. I guess I need to take a better picture.
I love how it turned out, but I’d also like to have someone smaller than me try it on because I think this one size would work for a variety of different sized people.
The yarn is a Michaels’ brand. I was very excited when I bought it earlier this year. It’s acrylic but super-soft, and it developed a nice “halo” when knit up. Not only that but each ball of this fingering-weight yarn has 678 yards on it … for less than $5!! I used less than 2 balls for this whole shrug. Compare that to most sock yarns you buy at ~400 yards for around $15-20 / skein.
Now, as for the name. As I was working on it, most of the stitches were either groups of 3, 4 or 7. And while I was crocheting it, I was in the middle of reading Revelations – especially chapter 4. So I decided to name it after that book.
Pattern: Revelation Lace Shrug
Designer: me
Yarn: Loops & Threads Woolike
Colorway: 21 Ivory
Modeled by: me
My Ravelry page
I’m impressed that you create your own designs! I sometimes play with knitting and putter around a bit just trying this and that, but if I ever tried to really “design” something – for a design-along or such – I’d be frozen!
Very pretty stitch pattern too 🙂
That’s why I like the challenge – it makes me think of ideas I might not come up with. You could totally make your own shrug though. As I said, it’s just a square or rectangle with a bit of seaming. Easy-peasy.