Thursday, May 22, 2014

Crafty Thursdays: The Super Awesome Skull Shawl





Laura K Curtis, author of LOST and TWISTED is our guest crafter today and she's brought us instructions for this fabulous crocheted skull shawl...

First a little about Laura's new book, LOST. 


Tara Jean Dobbs was a Texas police officer until her friend Lucy Caldwell almost died on her watch. She’s since left the force, left Dobbs Hollow, and vowed to never let a loved one down again. So when her best friend Andrea joins a seemingly harmless spiritual cult—only to disappear without a trace—Tara decides to find out what happened by becoming one of the Chosen herself.

Five months later, no one’s heard from Tara, and FBI Agent Jacob Nolan is going after her. Taking a false identity, Jacob finds it surprisingly easy to play the part of Tara’s boyfriend. But as they uncover the inner workings of the Chosen, they realize how much danger they’re in. Because Andrea isn’t the first follower to conveniently disappear—and they may be next.



You can get a short story from Laura as a gift here. And now on the the crocheting...

“Lost” in Translation

When a friend of mine asked me to make her a skull shawl she’d seen a pattern for, I figured it would be no big deal. After all, crochet is a fairly easy craft and I had a long stretch of jury duty coming up where I wouldn’t be able to take electronic devices into the courthouse.

The only problem I could see was that the pattern was in Russian. It’s a beautiful pattern, and you can find the original here:

There are translations beneath the pictures on the original site and I HIGHLY recommend you do the first couple of skulls with the pictures in front of you. Beneath each picture there is the Russian and also the English. (Also, pay attention to the eyes. She likes to make the eyes separately and then put them in. I am LAZY and I hate sewing in the ends, so I prefer to use the alternate method, described in my pattern, where the eyes are made at the same time.) But since I wasn’t going to have a computer on hand, I looked on Ravelry and found a translation of the pattern. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite right, which was…problematic. And then, too, the pattern is just repetitive enough to lull you into a false sense of knowing what you’re doing, so you do a couple of rows and suddenly realize you’ve screwed up. Once I fixed all the things the original translator got wrong, I went back and changed some things so that they also make more sense (at least I hope so). And then I also tried to put in bold the places where the pattern changes from the repetitive so that you will be reminded. 

This project is a major yarn-suck! I did it in Baby Ull, which is a super-soft merino fingering wool with a size C crochet hook. In order to make it a decent size, I needed approximately 1000 yards of yarn. Obviously, you’d need less yarn if you made it in worsted, but I wanted a lacy look. And I think I got it…what about you?

Skull Shawl
Pattern By:

Regular Stitches:
* - Marker for where a repeat starts
SK – Skip
CH – Chain
SP – Space (any of the ch 2,4,6, 7, 8,9 areas as they come up)
ST – Single Crochet
DC – Double Crochet
TN – Turn
REP - Repeat
SLST – Slip Stitch
DBTR – Double Triple/Treble

Special Stitches:
EYES: CH 8, 4 STS, CH 4, SK 3 STS, 4 STS, TN
CH 7, ST in SP, CH 7, SLST in first ST, TN
10 STS in each CH SP, SLST in ST, CH 8

FOUNDATION: CH 12

ROW 1: In 9th CH from hook, DC, DC in next 3 CH SP, CH 2, DBTR in same CH SP as last DC

ROW 2: CH 8, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 3: CH 8, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP twice more, DBTR, TN

ROW 4: CH 8, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP thrice more, DBTR, TN

ROW 5: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 9, SK SP, *4 DC in SP, CH 2 *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 6: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, 4 ST in SP, CH 6, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 7: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, *DC in ST, CH 1, *REP twice more, DC in last ST, CH 6, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 8: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, SK SP, CH 8, 2 STS in SP, 7 STS, 2 STS in SP, CH 8, SK SP, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 9: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, EYES, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 10: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 8, in 8th ST from center, SLST in first ST, 14 ST in next 14 across eyes, SLST in 16th ST on eyes, CH 8, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 11: CH 8, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, SK first ST on eyes, 12 STS, SK last ST on eyes, CH 6, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP twice more, DBTR, TN

ROW 12: CH 8, *DC 4 in SP, CH 2, *REP twice more, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, SK 2 STS, 8 STS, SK 2 STS, CH 6, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP thrice more, DBTR, TN

ROW 13: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 9, SK SP, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, SK ST, 6 STS, SK ST, CH 6, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 9, SK SP, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 14: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, 4 STS in SP, CH 6, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, SK ST, 4 SLSTS, SK ST, CH 6, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, 4 STS in SP, CH 6, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 15: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, SK SP, *DC in ST, CH 1, *REP twice more, DC in last ST, CH 6, SK SP, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 9, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, SK SP, *DC in ST, CH 1, *REP twice more, DC in last ST, CH 6, SK SP, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 16: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 8, 2 STS in SP, 7 STS, 2 STS in SP, CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, in CH 9 SP (4 DC, CH 2, 4 DC), CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 8, 2 STS in SP, 7 STS, 2 STS in SP, CH 8, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 17: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, EYES, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, 4 DC in SP, EYES, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 18: CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 8, in 8th ST from center, SLST in first ST, 14 ST in next 14 across eyes, SLST in 16th ST on eyes, CH 8, 4 DC in SP, CH 2, 4 DC in SP, CH 8, in 8th ST from center, SLST in first ST, 14 ST in next 14 across eyes, SLST in 16th ST on eyes, CH 8, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, DBTR, TN

ROW 19: CH 8, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, SK 2 SLST, 12 STS, SK ST, CH 6, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, SK ST, 12 STS, SK 2 SLST, CH 6, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP twice more, DBTR, TN

ROW 20: CH 8, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP twice more, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, SK 2 STS, 8 STS, SK 2 STS, CH 6, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP twice more, 4 DC in SP, CH 6, SK 2 STS, 8 STS, SK 2 STS, CH 6, *4 DC in SP, CH 2, *REP thrice more, DBTR, TN

** for successive sections of skulls, start at row 13 right here but add another skull to the mix
- At end of row 21, set up for 3 skulls has been made. Continue pattern till desired size is reached. Row 21 is a Row 13 equivalent, so just keep looping back to 13 at row 20, adding another skull.

- When you want to finish, slowly stop going to the “odd” rows and work your way back to rows of just 4 DCs in SP, CH 2 sequence



4 comments:

  1. This shawl is beautiful! So having my mom make me one.

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    Replies
    1. Isn't it great? I love this. Thank you Laura for sharing it with us. Kim - maybe your mom can make 2?

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  2. Hehehehe....it was a big hit. I think I need one myself.

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  3. Ooooooh, I'm adding this to my pile of "to be done" patterns. My TBD pile is about as big as my TBR pile! Thanks for sharing it, Laura! I'm looking forward to reading Lost. :)

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