Mari's Shrug

So named cuz i'm keepin' it! :) i think it's the first thing i ever really made for myself. yay me! now i have been just a little bit busy with life and whatever, so i havent really gotten as much crochet time in.. i also started slacking on taking notes because taking notes takes the fun out of stress relief crochet! so when i get a break i will closely study this number and give y'all the skinny, deal?
Haha yeah, im crazy a lil bit...
This shrug is super easy, works up in a day or two, and it is super easy to adjust to fit.
i used cervinia genova (2 skeins of black, 50grams i think?) and half a leftover skein of paton's classic wool for the grey part.. i think those paton's skeins are 3 and a half ounces.
also an I hook, aluminum.

Shrug Guidelines:
since i ended up giving the darn thing away after all lol.. i wasnt able to ever properly analyze it.
but here it is roughly :D

make a chain that you can wrap loosely around the fattest part of your wrist, then sl st it into a ring and make a chain4 because you are gonna be working in meshes alllll the way :D
mesh is started with a dc in the 2nd chain, then do (ch1, sk 1 st, dc in next) all the way around. join with sl st to 3rd chain of beginning ch4.

sl st into next ch1 space, repeat row as before.

do this until you have a sleeve that fits your arm up to the elbow(or around there)
then you will have to start increasing, which you do by just making a V stitch in any dc space.. i figure you can increase one or two times on each round and get a nice fitting sleeve for your upper arm. and of course, stop increasing when you hit the right size lol.

then!!! once you have the full sleeve... work mesh for mesh evenly and instead of joining at the end of the round, leave it open and just turn your work. so the rounds become ROWS. these rows will make the back of the shrug

make as many rows as you will need to fit across your back. once you have all those, join the ends back together with a slip stitch and start working in rounds again. this time instead of increases you will be making decreases to the wrist.

it's a good idea to keep notes on how many rounds and where the increases were from the first sleeve, that way you can just reverse it.

after you finish the second sleeve, fasten off the yarn and weave in the ends.
then attach it again to the back part, making meshes all around that opening.

i switched colors after about 3 or 4 rounds of black, and i also quit going around, and instead (this is a kinda tricky part but not really if you have stitch markers)
i put the shrug on and marked where my neck went, then using those markers i went in U shape, down one side and up the other, then back again.
that will give you a cute little point on the "end" (you'll see) where you can put your button later.

after you have worked on it to the desired length, you may want to smooth out the edges by working sc's around evenly, and also on the sleeve cuffs.

make a button by crocheting a circle and sewing it on (like i did) OR sew a big already-made one on, and you dont even have to make a buttonhole cuz you can just use a mesh to pop it in

and voila! a shrug :)

please do not sell this pattern even though it is only a rough guideline. thanks :)

Mari <3