Hidden Hills Shawl – Crochet Pattern Review – Annie’s Signature Design

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Every month, a group of bloggers are challenged by C’mon Get Crafty to create a new craft or project from their own stash of goodies! Everyone is allowed a $10 allowance for necessities to complete their project (i.e. paint brushes, glue, etc), but the bulk of it must be created from their own stash of goodies.

This month, I am showing off (and sharing a review) for the Hidden Hills Shawl from Annie’s Signature Designs. I have been working on this shawl on and off since before Christmas, but it is completely made with stash yarn, and the pattern was gifted to me (thank you Annie’s!) in exchange for sharing it with you, so this project didn’t cost me anything – woo hoo!

Materials:

• 1,296 Yards of Lightweight Yarn – I used Baby Bee’s Sweet Delight in Naked (Cream), Splash (Bright Blue), Airplane (Dark Gray), Cloudy (Light Gray) and Toy Elephant (Medium Gray)
• 3.5mm Crochet Hook
• Tapestry Needle for Weaving in Ends
• Hidden Hills Shawl, Paid Crochet Pattern from Annie’s

Material Notes:

Original pattern calls for 1,296 yards (4 skeins) of King Cole Riot DK, which is a variegated yarn, which they strategically use for the color changes.

My scale has been acting up, so I can’t give exact yardage I used right now, but I can tell you I used half a skein (or less) of each color. One skein of Baby Bee’s Sweet Delight is 377 yards.

Time Spent:

I added a lot of extra time to my project, but finishing off at the end of each row, and having to weave in the extra ends, but as is before end weaving, the shawl took about 8 hours, and 45 minutes. With all my weaving, 11 hours.

Measurements:

Pattern: 63″ Wide by 31″ Tall
Mine: 46″ Wide by 25.5″ Tall

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Pattern Notes:

What first attracted me to this shawl was the simple fact that it was all created with variegated yarns that worked together produce the gorgeous color changes, and without the need of finishing off, and weaving in a bunch of ends (which I did end up doing).

Before I get into the goodies, I want to touch base on gauge real quick. I did not gauge for this project, and my shawl ended up turning out smaller than the original piece. I was okay with this when I started my shawl. There is a lot of flexibility in shawls, so gauge isn’t essential. AND, you could always add some extra rows on at the end if you want more height, and width.

Originally, I thought maybe some Caron’s Cupcakes Yarn would work well for this shawl, and I did buy some at my local Michael’s while it was on sale, but when I worked up a small sample, I quickly realized it was not what I was going for (plus I didn’t like the way the Cupcakes felt).

So, I went to my stash, and pulled out a bunch of colors that I thought screamed Winter, and went really well together.

I worked this sample, changing yarn colors at the end of every row (except the first four rows that I worked in the cream color, and the two after that I worked in the lighter gray).

I wasn’t in love with the blue at first, and even frogged a few rows to redo my order before this picture, but I am so glad I stuck with it, because it was the perfect little pop of color in the shawl.

One part I wish I would have gone back to rework was the first row of bobbles – you see it in the picture above in the light gray color. Notice in the center where there is two gray shells on top of each other.

This looked so out of place to me, and really bugged me while I was working, but I was feeling lazy, and didn’t want to frog again. To fix this in the remaining bobbles rows, I worked a bobble in the center of the previous rows shell, and the next row’shell split between the two most center stitches of the bobble (two double crochets in one stitch, the other two double crochets in the next stitch).

I also made a mistake later in the pattern where I think I may have missed a row because when I worked my bobble row of 35, I found myself working them from the opposite side. Ugh! Again, I was feeling lazy because I would have had to frog that row, and the previous one to add another row of double crochet to get to where I should have been, so I just went with it. It did the job, but it definitely holds it’s shape, and looks better when worked the correct way, which is from the wrong side.

I found a typo in the pattern at Row 16, it is missing the first double crochet. It should start, “ch 4, dc in first ch-1 sp, cross st…”

Another thing I came to realize later, was the slight pulling. I usually replace things like a beginning chain 3 with a chain 2 when working in double crochets because I think it’s a better height for it. My thought process was the same for this shawl, so for a good ways I worked the beginning as a chain 3, instead of a chain 4. Found out later that the shawl wasn’t laying flat because it was pulling a little bit. Since I had already weaved in my ends up to this point, I couldn’t go back, so I just started working it as written with a chain 4, and continued working as such, and it self corrected for the most part.

All in all, I really loved the whole entire process of working up this shawl, and the beautiful piece of art it had become. I even started thinking about making another (like I have that kind of time, ha). If I did make another though, I would like to try out either the Riot yarn, or a nice merino blend.

The pattern was super easy to follow, and the rows are pretty repetitive (in stitches, not necessarily in pattern), so I just quickly would glance at the next row, or few rows, and think to myself… “2 doubles, cross, double, cross…” and then work the next few rows as such, and then check back.

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Linked Up To…
Sundays at Home #241 – Celebrating Everyday Life
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Let’s meet this month’s bloggers!!

C’mon Get Crafty | Purple Hues and Me
EyeLoveKnots | Stone Cottage Adventures | Across the Blvd
Domestic Deadline | Shoppe No 5 | Modern to Monticello
My Pinterventures | This Autoimmune Life | Sew Craft Crochet
Salvage Sister and Mister | The Inspiration Vault

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