Painted Mountain Shawl

This shawl crocheting thing has become a little bit of an addiction. In fact, I love making them so much that I joined the "10 shawls in 2010 challenge" over at Ravelry a couple of months ago. There is a small, friendly, incredibly supportive crocheting bunch over there, and I not only want to marry them all, I also want to emulate their shawly awsomeness.



This here, the Painted Mountain Shawl by Vicki Mikulak, is my third shawl for the year. It took me exactly a week to make it, and I used a skein of Noro Kureyon Sock and a 4 mm hook.



I found Noro Kureyon Sock to be incredibly nasty yarn to crochet with. My hands never get sore with crochet, but this yarn made them sore for the first time ever. The yarn goes from being cobweb thin to chunky thickness, often in only a few inches. While the colour changes were incredible and lots of fun to watch, I had only one thought while I made this shawl.

"I hope it blocks out OK."



And it did. Thank heavens. A good half hour soak in some Softly and an overnight stretch being pinned out on the spare bed, and it bloomed quite nicely, evening out the yarn a little. It is still not very soft, but I'm not wearing it close to my skin so it's OK. And it looks pretty, especially with a purple shirt underneath it.