Crochet Handspun Shawl: Life, the Universe, and Everything

Life, the Universe, and Everything  is an attractive and cozy handspun shawl. I stitched it using handspun yarn and a free, easy-to-follow pattern.

The Crochet Shoulder Wrappers group on Ravelry is a very active, friendly, and energetic group of crafters. They have at least three crochet-alongs (CALs) every month, and anyone can participate. It’s a fun way to discover new designs and enjoy the crochet community. Plus, if you need help at any point in the pattern or are interested in advice on how to change something, there’s a community of people to help you or offer opinions.

I participated in one of the July 2013 CALs. The free pattern, “Hitchin’ a Ride“, is adapted to crochet by Sharon Cheek from the popular knit “Hitchhiker” shawl pattern. Since the original knit pattern was thus named because it includes 42 “teeth” along one edge, and since Douglas Adams’ series is one of my favorites, I’ve named my shawl accordingly: Life, the Universe, and Everything.

This was a fantastic project for me to use one of my handspun yarns. The subtly striping yarn paired well with the simple pattern. The whole skein was used, which was a thin fingering weight about 500 yards. I modified the stitch pattern a bit: where it says to chain 1, I’ve chained 2. I also switched to a slightly larger hook. This gave my shawl a more open and draped fabric, and made it easier to determine where to place my hook for the next stitch.

It has an interesting asymmetrical shape with an inside arc and ridges along one edge. The curved edge sort of makes this handspun shawl fit like a poncho when it wraps around.

Here’s a shot of the ridged edge of my shawl on the blocking boards. (You can read more about my blocking process here.)

Find the FREE shawl pattern on Ravelry.

Pattern: Hitchin’ a Ride
Designer: Sharon Cheek
Source: Dragonscrochet