Last year I wanted to make a simple shrug for my daughter – in law. I looked at patterns everywhere – Ravelry, different yarn websites, and all the magazines I had. Nothing g really seemed interesting to me unless it was far more complicated than I wanted to tackle. Finally I found this very plain Bernat shrug, very simple and decided I would just put a lacy stitch in it instead of the plain mesh. I have a couple of stitch pattern books and found one called “scattered shells” that looked promising. It was one row of chains and shells and the next row of chains so simple and not a lot of yarn (she lives in Ft Lauderdale, so heavy is not an option. The original pattern was 1st row: 1 dc in 4th ch from hook. *Ch 1. Miss next ch. 1 dc in next ch. Rep from * to last ch. 1 dc in last 1. Turn. 91 sts.
I decided to use a stitch called Scattered Shells from my Complete Guide to Crochet which is based on 12 stitches plus 1. Easy to work with.
The shape is very simple – just a rectangle that is folded in half and crocheted together for a few inches to make the sleeves. All I needed to do was use the correct number of stitches and it would be much prettier. I figured about 20-40 rows depending on how it looked. I decided on an ivory cotton yarn with a thread of lurex floating through it for a little sparkle. And off I went. Really easy to do and worked up quickly. Still a little plain, so I added a row of double crochet ruffles all around the neck/back edge and the sleeve edges. Then I tried it on.
Oh my- not really the look for a full busted woman – it outlined and emphasized the bust wayyyyyyy too much! And my DIL is even more well endowed that I am.
So back to more planning. I didn’t want to frog out everything all I had done, but I did have to take out one row of edging. Then I added ---- more rows of pattern to just one side and had to work it to fit around the curve to work it in properly. Now it has a nice folded over collar back that comes down and covers the bust. A pin or clip earring could be used as a closure. And then I decided it needed more ruffled so there is a row of triple crochet on top of the double crochet. So much for less yarn – I think the extra ruffles used up a skein and a half – but it really looks nicer that way. Now it is a lace pattern plus it drips lace ruffles on every edge. Fortunately I had a lot of that yarn and dye lot!
Because the basic shape was just a rectangle it was pretty easy to transform the basic shape into the lace pattern and of course edges are very forgiving too.
Now, if you can’t find the pattern you have in your mind’s eye, please consider changing a basic pattern to get what you want. I think you will be very happy with your own design that is a true mark of your creativity.