A beginner's first project completed - a gorgeous crocheted shrug

Back in May when Lynn first joined us, like Gaia, Mercedes and the rest, she was just as smitten with crochet.

So we got her working on the spidery shrug. It took her a while to get the hang of it -- her first lesson was well over 3 hours as she has to learn how to:

• hold the crochet hook,  
• carry and tension the yarn on her fingers and feed it through,
• do swatch practice to ensure her tension is even,
• recognize and decipher the crochet symbols,
• actually work the various stitches.

If you see the shrug closely, you will notice that she has used 2 different strands of yarn. This gives the finished project a different look.Sounds like a long time isn't it? Actually, given all the steps she had to go through, three hours is a reasonable time as there are several stitches involved in the pattern.

When she came back for her second lesson, she has this much progress to show.


Apart from wanting to make sure that she has followed the pattern sheet accurately, she is concerned about any possible mistakes made when stitching at home.

And so, the project kept growing.



If you see the shrug closely, you will notice that she has used 2 different strands of yarn. This gives the finished project a different look. (You can compare it with another customer's WIP -- this was done sometime late last year.)




When she came during the last lesson and announced that the yarn might be running short, I nearly had a nervous breakdown!

This project has been crocheted by various customers throughout the last 5 years that I am absolutely sure that 6 balls of yarns would do the work but Lynn's project was short of 2 inches of cuff frills.

Turned out when Lynn had a more relaxed gauge when she was working on the frills around the neck and the cuffs. That in turn, resulted in the yarn shortage. To rub salt to the wound, I was totally out of stock for the bamboo yarn for this project. I couldn't even find a yard of spare yarn anywhere.

In the end, we managed to remedy the situation by modifying the cuff frills pattern ever so slightly.


Most of the new customers gasp in awe when they realize that this is a beginner crochet project. Of course, I must accord much credit to the ladies themselves who persevered and undergone our personalized coursework regime -- it's always tempting to be spoon-fed! But once they discovered the joys of empowerment, there's no turning back!

Now that Lynn has conquered this, she is moving onto a second project! Sharing is sexy