Crochet Shawl Number Two

I've taken a bit of a sewing breather lately and it's been nice.  There were many many sewing projects with deadlines this spring so it has been nice to putter on a few things for myself (or our home) with no pressure as to when they must be finished.

One such project was crocheting another shawl.   I made my first shawl last year sometime and it has gotten tons of use.  I made it for myself (story here) but I hardly ever get to wear it.  As it turns out, it is the perfect cover up for church and the girls take turns wearing it each week.  Great for those pesky short sleeve dresses that are cute but cold first thing in the morning.  One girl or the other usually goes to church wrapped in the shawl instead of a spring jacket and remains cuddled up for most of the church service.  And really, who can blame them?!  Its like snuggling up in a soft blanket!

So... after many weeks of trying to remember who wore it the previous week to avoid arguments as we head out the door to church I decided to just make another one.  Easier said than done, unfortunately, as I made the first one up as I went along.  For the first one I just made a big triangle, trying it on as I went until it seemed big enough.  I wrote down my general stitch pattern but I didn't keep track of increases.  Which I now regret.

This is the second shawl, the one I finished this week. 

White yarn from Michael's, nothing fancy.  I'm not experienced enough to buy fancy yarn.

Despite Leah's pleas for purple, I stuck to goes-with-every-church-dress white.  :)

I used the same stitch/row pattern as the other one, which is a row of treble crochet (US) followed by two rows of single crochet.  One treble, two single, over and over.  I really like the stripe-like subtle look it has.  

This one got a border of single crochet all around the edge, probably 7 rows in all.  

Here it is all wrapped up around Grace.  

(I just realized she has been my photography assistant many random times over the last week or two and in all of them she is wearing her Rapunzel nightgown.  I promise she wears clothes.  Most days.)

Here is where the trouble starts.  

This is both shawls together. 

The second one (on top) is supposed to be smaller because this time I was purposely making it for a kid rather than an adult, but its also supposed to be the same shape as the older one (below).  

I tried and tried, crocheted and ripped and crocheted again, and I just couldn't replicate the overall shape and the nice slope on the sides.  Finally I just gave up and let the wonky edges be - I couldn't bear to rip it out again all the way down to about the 8'' mark where I would have needed to start increasing to make it smooth.  No one will be able to tell when its wrapped around little shoulders in church, right?  Right.   Seeing them side by side, I like the scalloped edges better than the single crochet border.  Maybe I'll add them to the smaller one sometime.    Overall, I give myself about a B-minus  on this project.  It'll work for its intended purpose and it was fun to make (other than the ripping and experimenting with increases part), puttering away on it in the evenings.  But I definitely like my first made-up shawl better than my second made-up-trying-to-match-the-first-made-up shawl. 

Now both girls have nice coverups for church.  I'm still on the lookout for a pattern for myself that would be more of a circular capelet than a triangular shawl.  Until I stumble across that pattern I'll keep puttering around with other crochet things when the mood strikes.