Paton’s Wilderness has been disappearing from yarn shop shelves ever since Kirsty showed us her wonderful granny shrugs.

The inimitable Kirsty is providing a fantastic visual how-to for the granny shrug on her blog today, with both video instructions and step-by-step photographs.  Anyone who prefers a traditional line-by-line written crochet pattern can find a pdf here.  I’ll have daylight photos of my shrug for you tomorrow.  Happy crocheting!

UPDATE March 2016 – Kirsty no longer maintains a blog, and the visual how-to and video instructions and step-by-step photographs are not longer available.  Traditional line-by-line written instructions are below.

Kirsty’s Granny Shrug

 Regarding yarn and hook choice:

Yarn: Chunky (14 ply or similar)

Hook: 15mm (or similar)

Use chunky yarn – 14 ply, or two strands of 12, 10 or 8 ply held together – and an appropriately sized hook.  You don’t want stiff crochet!  Give a 12mm, 15mm and even a 20mm hook a try first and work up the first two rounds to get an idea of how the fabric will feel.  Then you can decide whether you need to pull it out and try again with a different hook or keep going.

Kirsty’s shrugs look marvelous crocheted with a single strand of 14 ply Patons Wilderness and a 15 mm hook.  She used around 4 x 100g balls (approx 440m).

I dived into my stash to find yarn to make mine.  For Clare’s child-sized shrug I used 2 strands of 12 ply (Cleckheaton Country 12ply) held together with a 10mm hook.  The resulting fabric was quite thick.  A bigger hook would have been much better.  I used almost 10 x 50g balls of yarn (approx 540m).

For my shrug I used 2 strands of 12 ply (Patons Jet) held together with a 15mm hook. Round 1 measured 4 inches across, and the resulting fabric was much drapier.  I used around 10 x 50g balls of yarn (approx 740m).

Note: This pattern is written in Australian/UK terminology

Abbreviations:

Chain                                      ch
Slip stitch                              sl st
Treble crochet                      tr         (this is the same as a US double crochet, abbreviated as dc)
Space                                       sp

Round 1:            4 ch, sl st to first ch to form ring.

3 ch (counts as tr), 2 tr in ring, 2 ch, *3 tr in ring, 2 ch*, repeat from * to * 4 times, sl st to 3^rd ch to join.

(you should have six 3 tr groups, each separated by 2 ch).

Round 2:            3 ch (counts as tr), turn.

2 tr into 2-ch sp, 2 ch, 3 tr into 2-ch sp, 1 ch, *3 tr into next 2-ch sp, 2 ch, 3 tr into same 2-ch sp, 1 ch*, repeat from * to * 4 times, sl st to 3^rd ch to join.

(six [3tr, 2ch, 3tr groups] each separated by 1 ch).

Round 3:            3 ch (counts as tr), turn.

2 tr into 2-ch sp, 1 ch, 3 tr into 2-ch sp, 2 ch, 3 tr into same 2-ch sp, 1 ch, *3 tr into next 2-ch sp, 1 ch, 3 tr into next 2-ch sp, 2 ch, 3 tr into same 2-ch sp, 1 ch*, repeat from * to * 4 times, sl st to 3^rd ch to join.

(six [3 tr, 2 ch, 3 tr] groups, each making up a corner, one 3 tr groups in each side, each separated by 1 ch).

Round 4:            3 ch (counts as tr), turn.

2 tr into 2-ch sp, 1 ch, 3 tr into 2-ch sp, 2 ch, 3 tr into same 2-ch sp, 1 ch, *3 tr into next 1-ch sp, 1 ch, 3 tr into next 1-ch sp, 1 ch, 3 tr into 2-ch sp, 2 ch, 3 tr into same 2-ch sp, 1 ch*, repeat from * to * 4 times, 3 tr into next 1-ch sp, 1 ch, sl st to 3^rd ch to join.

(six [3 tr, 2 ch, 3 tr] groups, each making up a corner, two 3 tr groups in each side, each separated by 1 ch).

Round 5:            3 ch (counts as tr), turn.

2 tr into 2-ch sp, 1 ch, 3 tr into 2-ch sp, 2 ch, 3 tr into same 2-ch sp, 1 ch, *3 tr into next 1-ch sp, 1 ch, 3 tr into next 1-ch sp, 1 ch, 3 tr into 2-ch sp, 2 ch, 3 tr into same 2-ch sp, 1 ch*, repeat from * to * 4 times, 3 tr into next 1-ch sp, 1 ch, 3 tr into next 1-ch sp, 1 ch, sl st to 3^rd ch to join.

(six [3 tr, 2 ch, 3 tr] groups, each making up a corner, three 3 tr groups in each side, each separated by 1 ch).

Remaining rounds:

Continue on in the same manner.  Each row will have one more 3 tr group in each side than in the previous round.  Keep laying the piece out in an L-shape to check whether it has reached the size you’d like.  About 8 rounds seems to work well for an adult, but it will depend on the yarn and the size and fit you’d like.  It doesn’t take long to add another row (or undo it).  Finish off when you’ve done enough rounds.

Make another granny hex to form the other side/sleeve of the jacket.

Seam the two sides up the centre back and across the top of the sleeves, leaving a space for your neck.  Use whatever seaming method you prefer.  Kirsty crocheted hers together with a much smaller hook than she’d used for the rest of the shrug.

Finish the front, sleeve and neck edges with a row of slip stitch or double crochet, or a fancy edging if you prefer.  The neck definitely needs some edging to give it some stability; the rest of the edges are up to you.  You can leave them plain if you like.  Weave in your ends and wear your granny shrug with pride!