It’s a Wrap – 20 Light Modern Crochet Shawl Pattern Book

Are you looking for a modern beginner crochet shawl pattern book?  It’s a Wrap features 20 beginner accessible modern crochet patterns dedicated to shawl and wrap patterns.  Read on to find out more about the book, designs included and how to get your copy.

Crochet Shawl Pattern Book Inspiration

Ideas for crochet shawl and wrap patterns are the ideas that come to me most.  At least they do at the time of writing, and did in the summer of 2022 when I decided to take action on my idea to write a crochet shawl pattern book.  

Picture it.  It’s a fairly bright day in North Wales in July and I was about half way down the rabbit hole of ideas of what to do next to move my blog forward or design next.  I knew I needed a new pc as my laptop had seen better days and after a little bit of online searching I fell upon the idea to hold a Kickstarter to fund a crochet shawl pattern book.

As the most popular types of designs in my online shops this seemed to be and was probably the easiest decision to make in the self publishing journey to create this book.

The idea was to create a modern crochet shawl pattern book that celebrates the shawl as an accessory – a versatile slow fashion addition to any wardrobe, as well as a varied, creative, accessible and addictive crochet project to make.

To find out more about the process behind the book, check out It’s a Wrap pt 2.

Inspirations

So many things. At the start of the design process I wanted to create shawls for ‘all seasons’ things that you could wear throughout the year. Maybe changing yarn weights or fibres but also with a variety of textures created by a small number of stitches.

Very keen to keep things consistent, I wanted to have a theme that I could build the designs around, especially for the names of the beginner crochet shawl patterns included. I like things that co-ordinate or match and I wanted something cohesive to bring all the designs together but not be identical – sisters but not twins.

I asked the kickstarters, and one of the consistent themes that I received in the survey was to have a movie theme to the names. This resonated with me immediately as it ‘went’ with the name of the Kickstarter (and the title I have chosen for this modern crochet shawl pattern book), but also because I love movies and it could be fun and relateable.

Flag on the play. Some of my most favourite movies are gangster/mobster, action movies – The Godfather, SWAT – I just don’t know that Michael Corleone works for modern crochet shawl pattern name. Lol. I turned to google and a merged a couple of the suggestions to come up with a theme.

All the patterns in the book are named after characters played by award winning actresses. I chose the characters from mostly movies that I love watching and every single one of them I have watched again while working on the book. Some make sense, others will make you think I’m crazy but my only regret is that I didn’t get everyone in. There is no single genre of movie, so while you may not recognise the characters I’ve chosen to go with, I am fairly sure you will recognise all the actresses. Can I say that? Hopefully, everyone on the list identifies with she/her and I’ve not offended anyone.

It’s a Wrap yarn & materials 

The fun bit, yarn. I prefer lightweight yarns and natural fibres to make shawls, so while I originally planned to use all the weights and things, when working on the designs for this book I stuck to what I love. For me, crochet shawls are accessories, an additional flair or final touch to your outfit and so come in nicer fibres, as they are a treat. I don’t say this to shame or call anyone out, just sharing my perspective and reasoning behind my choices.

All of the designs included in this crochet shawl pattern book will work in any fibre you choose to make them in – just follow the appropriate care label. Personally I wouldn’t make them in anything over a 3 weight yarn (dk) because I would find that too blanket like and bulky, however, if you live in a cooler climate and would like to try an Aran/Worsted/4 weight yarn version this would be possible. I would use a hook .5mm bigger than the recommended size on the band to achieve a loose flowy fabric and follow the pattern until you achieve a size that is suitable for your needs.

To create the designs for this beginner crochet shawl pattern book, I used a majority 2 or fingering weight and a single 3 or dk weight yarns.  For the 2 weight yarns I used Twister Solid and Friends Wheel from Hobbii for all the single coloured designs.  Twister Solid is a well used favourite, and I planned to use this and the original version at the start of the process.   As I changed my mind, I stuck to this and the new Friends Wheel, which you can find out about here, to create all the single coloured designs included in this modern crochet shawl pattern book.

All the multicoloured designs in It’s a Wrap are made using yarn cakes from Crochet UK.  As part of my kickstarter I wanted to support small and local businesses wherever possible and as a regular user, once I had started choosing colours, and Mel graciously offered me yarn sponsorship to design with, I decided to go with it for the majority of designs.  To find out more about the cakes available from Crochet UK check out the review post here.

For the 3 weight yarn I used a trusted favourite – Stylecraft Naturals Bamboo & Cotton.  A great option for an affordable yarn featuring natural fibres.  To find out more about Stylecraft Naturals check out the review post here.

20 Modern Crochet Shawl and Wrap patterns 

Featuring 20 brand new exclusive crochet shawl and wrap patterns, It’s a Wrap is a beginner accessible crochet pattern book.  I firmly believe that any type of pattern is accessible as a crochet beginner because everything is hard when you are starting out.  

However, I wanted this to be something an absolute beginner could pick up and successfully use to complete the projects inside without feeling too overwhelmed or that they need a million additional tools and resources to be able to follow the patterns.

Inside It’s a Wrap

• Information on how to get started with crochet for beginners including yarn, hooks, standard stitches, and more
• 20 exclusive crochet shawl and wrap patterns each including a chart
• A variety of shapes, stitches, and fabric textures to give you project options for a variety of occasions
• Bonus patterns – a couple of extra patterns that were designed around the time of the book but are also available individually

Terms: US Crochet Terms

Type: written pattern and charts 

Skill: beginner 

Projects include, long and short row rectangles, top down triangle, banana or crescent shawls, c2c crochet, filet crochet and more!

Modern Crochet Shawl Pattern tester thanks

Huge huge thanks to my testers – Winnie, Carmel, Becca, Lyn, Judy, Kris, Niki and Yvonne for helping me with all the testing for this book.  So many different gorgeous projects to choose from – please check out the individual patterns to see all the examples of their work.

Designs included in It’s A Wrap

To find out more about the designs included in It’s a Wrap hit the links below:

Get It’s a Wrap

Get your copy of It’s a Wrap, including 20 exclusive modern crochet shawl patterns below

Don’t forget to pop into the Facebook Group and let me know what colour(s) you plan to make your shawls in and share your progress – I would love to see your work.

Tag me on social media @menmyhook using #It’sAWrapBook #Menmyhook to share your finished projects.

I hope you enjoyed the post, I look forward to seeing all your makes from It’s a Wrap.

Bye for now,

B x