Crochet
Behind the Design: Majestic Skies Crochet Motif Shawl Patternby Kristin Omdahl
Sep
Behind the Design: Majestic Skies Crochet Motif Shawl Pattern by Kristin Omdahl
Designing the Majestic Skies Crochet Motif Shawl was truly one of the things I love the most about being a crochet designer. First, I got to explore combinations of colors from my beautiful color palette of Be So Sporty Yarns. I wanted to come up with a warm, autumn inspired palette but be true to my love of saturated, girly colors. I thought a lot about the gorgeous sunsets I love to photograph over the Gulf of Mexico.
I used this beautiful sunset photo as inspiration to create a 4 color palette for a 4-round square crochet motif:
So I started with a solid color motif, in each of the 4 colors. Makes sense right? In theory? Yes. In reality? No. I couldn’t stand it. So I tried a couple versions of 2 color motifs (sorry I didn’t take any pics of those) and then tried a 4 color motif. I thought the 4 colors for 4 rounds of pattern really accentuated the stitch pattern and structure of the motif. But I also thought an entire project of 4 color motifs would be two things: way too busy AND way too many ends to weave in. So, I considered offsetting the 4 color motifs with solid color motifs. Then I tried that with all four of the solid colors offset by the 4 color motifs (sorry I didn’t take any pic of those either) and it was even more hideous than the first attempt. I was getting very discouraged at this point. Deciding that I loved the purple (Passionate Plum) the best, I decided to try one more time and offset the 4 color motifs with solid motifs in one color only: Passionate Plum. I was so discouraged that I knew instantly I didn’t hate it, but wasn’t open enough to decide if I loved it. And what do I always say about not knowing what to do in a creative moment? Set it aside and MOVE ON until the decision comes to you!
So I let it sit on the side of my desk for a day or so, and it hit me! I wasn’t wild about making a triangular shawl with square motifs because you get those joggy-staircase edges. But then I realized this was an opportunity to really showcase what I can do with a stitch pattern. Each of the 4 rounds of this motif are a completely different pattern. (Hence why I said above that using four colors, one for each round, really accentuates the details). So by altering the square motif for triangular motifs for the edge, I could really showcase how I love to manipulate motifs!
At first, I made a triangular motif in the round. It is traditionally what you do on the edge. But it looked HORRIBLE on the sides, didn’t lay right. However, it looked amazing at the lower V. Ok, so I kept the one and joined it to the bottom V. I experimented with the 4-round stitch pattern and made a 4-ROW triangle motif (like a very mini top down triangular shawl) and still made it join-as-you-go so it joined seamlessly in the outermost row.
And the final manipulation of the motif was to create a 4-row, 4-color edging for the entire shawl, adding shaping to the outer edges as well as the bottom V (which is mandatory in crochet design so it lays flat).
Here is a link to Kristin’s YouTube video tutorial showing you how to make each of these motifs and also how to join them as you go:
The Majestic Skies Crochet Motif Shawl demonstrates so many elements of crochet design that I love. It incorporates inspiration from nature and color; join-as-you-go motif construction: and the manipulation of stitches to replicate rounds to rows to edging. It includes line by line instructions as well as the charts for the square motifs, triangle motifs in the round, triangle motifs in rows AND the edging. As a lover of crochet, I hope you enjoy the passion, time, dedication and math that went into developing this pattern. If you choose to create the shawl using Be So Sporty Yarns (like I did) you will receive a coupon code to download the shawl for FREE.
If you have any questions, please let me know!
xoxo, Kristin
it’s absolutely gorgeous!
Thank you Lori!