No. I’m not making “the pocket shawl”.

IRL, I’m not a joiner. I don’t love large group activities (my local knitting people may remember how I dug in my heels about not attending “Stitch n Pitch”). I avoid (consciously or subconsciously) the Popular “thing” (current best selling books, fitness fads, fashion trends, pop music). Maybe its part of my nature to go against the grain. Or I think it’ll make me “edgy”, unique, or counterculture cool?

I digress, my bandwagon project. Now that everyone has moved onto the next big crochet pattern, I feel free to explore the Virus Shawl. Don’t laugh, I FINALLY decided to tackle this project. I’ve been going back and forth between the Virus Shawl or the Lost Souls Skull Shawl. I also recently purchased myself a cake of Scheepjes Whirl (60% Cotton, 40% Acrylic: 1000m) in Salted Caramel Matcha– a yarn that has been experiencing a moment. The yarn was the deciding factor on which pattern to make. I decided I wanted to make the Skull Shawl in some kind of obnoxious PINK shade, irony and all that.

Last week, I took the kids up to visit with my parents for a few days. They hadn’t seen each other since Mid-December (2019). It was time, we’ve all be practicing social distancing and taking the proper safety precautions. My dad has even embraced technology and started doing grocery pick-up! We had a nice visit for a few days, the kids rode bikes up and down the driveway, played with my old Barbie stuff (a couple pieces actually belonged to my mom when she was a kid), and even slept in the (new to them) 1995 RV my dad has been fixing up since spring.

This means I was able to make some headway on my shawl. The yarn caught my mom’s eye, and she really likes the “open” stitches. Which means she will be the recipient upon completion. She has an animal fiber sensitivity, so the cotton/acrylic blend is great for her. The chart is hand-drawn, so some of the rows need a bit of close inspection the first couple times through. Honestly, once you work the first 11 rows, you just work rows 8-11 until you are done. Super easy, but it LOOKS difficult. I’m using my Furls Odyssey Hook (H/8) The hook has a bit of heft, which is nice with such a light weight yarn.

So, if you are one of the 3 people who crochet (who hasn’t done this shawl), I highly recommend it. It is a minimum effort, maximum effect project. I may choose to do another one in the far future with a thicker yarn. Fingering weight yarn is not something I regularly crochet with, so I feel like I’m moving at a snail speed. I like the yarn itself and will use it again in the future (maybe a knit sweater)! I like that it has a twist to the ply, that makes it easier for me to work with. I made THIS out of a similar concept yarn, Lion Brand Wrap Star (which I think is discontinued), the untwisted ply was a bit annoying and splitty.