Summer Cotton!

Summers are the best time for one of my favorite fibres cotton.  This great Berthable and light weight fibre  does occasionally get a bad wrap for being difficult to work in, when compared to acrylic and wool blends.  This has a lot to do with consrtuction of the fibre and how it behaves which is a much larger conversation. If you want let me know and I can make a post breaking down the fibres into an easy 101 guide for cotton.

This year I was super blessed to get my hands on some Brown Sheep Company fine cotton yarn (it was sent to me to review so I did know it was coming) this number 1 light fingering cotton yarn. It has a great color and wonderful texture feel to it. It's not as course as the cootn I would choose for a dishcloth or scrubby. It's also not so fine as to be best for a shawl like a single ply wool in the same weight might be.  So clearly it was meant to be a garment. As my part of the worlds has ever increasingly hot summers cotton is a great garment to have in the wardrobe.   Sadly as I only recieved 4 skiens of the river lily cotton I knew I wouldnt have enough yardage to make a summer shirt in a knitted capacity so I decided to do a crochet shrug as I could use the natural spacing of this crafting technique to give me the look of airness and help stretch that yardage out.

Now I am a huge summer dress fan  my closet never seems to have enough dresses or shrugs and cardigans to go over them so why not recreate in a great color a summer version of the granny square cocoon shrug I made last year.  Thanks to a wonderful tutorial by yarnutopia, she can be found on youtube and is a great source to any crochet enthusiast. 

Being me I like my summer garments light, flexible and super bright in color so the Brown Sheep Company fine cotton in tiger lily hit the mark perfectly.  as such a light shrug  seemed like a great fit for the 30c or more heat I knew was coming.

Holding the yarn double and using a 4.5mm hook I essentially made a smaller more fitted version of the cocoon shrugs you see all over.  I thoroughly enjoyed working in the yarn. Overall it crochet smoothly has good stitch definition and because of the cotton a lovely drape.  I'm going to order some more to do a knitted shirt for myself for next summer which really tells you just how much I liked the yarn and finished project.

Jocelyns cocoon shrug recipie.
You'll need a 4.5mm sized hook
I used 4  50gram skiens of fine cotton in tiger lily from Brown Sheep Compnay to make the body and 50 grams of a contrasting color for the trim.

Take your measurements.  I neded a 26" sized square to get around my shoulders comfortably. You might need more or less. To figure this out I took my measuring tape and asked my sister to measure around my shoulders.  So holding my arms down next to my body she measured all the way around my arms  and back  right at the level were you would take an upper bust measurement. I then divied that number in half so I knew how big to make my square.
Once my square was made and stitched into a cocoon shape I took my contrast color and added a trim of half dc around the arms and the body of the shrug making a small collar to finish off the garment.   Then wove in my ends, washed and  proceeded to enjoy my creation. 

If you want comment  and I can write out the pattern or do a video tutorial for everyone.

In the end  I'm super happy with Brown Sheep Companys fine cotton yarn and  I am excited to order and try out there other fibre blends to continue my work towards a home made house and recomend you give them a try as well.

Hugs, love and happy crafting.
Jocelyn Douglas