Above, South Bay Shawlette first 8 rows

Above, Elise Shawl, first 8 rows

I wanted an easy project to take with me on vacation. Since I have been spending a lot of time designing patterns I thought it would be nice just to relax and work an easy shawl. Both the South Bay Shawlette and the Elise Shawl  patterns are available for free. To get the Elise pattern you must be a member of Raverly. If you aren’t already a memeber of Ravelry you should be, sign up for free immediately! You must also sign up to Lion Brand’s website to access their free patterns. This is worth doing because they have a huge inventory of free patterns available for download.

The Elise Shawl is an adaptation of the South Bay Shawlette and I was having trouble deciding which one I’d like to make. To see the differences in the two patterns I worked up the first 8 rows of both patterns using Crystal Palace yarns Mini Mochi with a J hook.

Differing from the South Bay, the Elise Shawl uses 5 stitch shells instead of 7. Also, there are some treble stitches in the pattern. The different stitch pattern makes the Elise a lighter weight fabric, less dense. The South Bay is dense and a bit fancy looking with the 7 stitch shells. The Elise has an edging that is meant to be blocked out to create points at the edge.

My samples are unblocked with the following measurements:

Elise, 9 inches wide, 5 1/4 inches from center back to tip, weight 7.4 grams

South Bay, 9 1/4 inches wide, 5 1/4 inches from center back to tip, weight 7.8 grams

This should make the South Bay around 2 1/4 inches wider than the Elise. I don’t know how accurate my scale is but in any case the South Bay should take more yarn for the body.

In summary the South Bay should make a denser, wider shawl and use a bit more yarn for the body of the shawl. The Elise should be a bit narrower and lighter weight using a bit less yarn for the body.

Since the temperature has been up to 90 ℉, I am choosing to make the Elise Shawl.

Update 8/9/11

Finished shawl with improvised edging. It took just over 2 balls of Mini Mochi to make.

See my Ravelry project  page for more photos.

The Farm

© Kathy Kelly 2011