I have someone that I exchange gifts with for Christmas who I never know what to get, and figure I mostly get it all wrong.  While fretting over it the other day, wondering what to buy her this year, I had an epiphany–I’d crochet something. She’s an older woman who lives in a place that can be cold, I have lots of yarn, so I figured it was as good an idea as anything else I could 3think of.

After a lot of pondering and surfing the Internet for ideas, I settled on a shawl. My inspiration came from a YouTube video titled “How to Crochet the Vanilla Chai Latte Shawl” by Fiber Flux.

I used Lion brand Homespun yarn, which has a lot of texture. The color I had on hand is Windsor, which is a mixture of blue, green and lavender. I used a K 6.5mm crochet hook, which is the one that’s recommended and helps keep your work loose enough to more easily find where to put your hook as you create (note–I think a 10 mm hook is used in the Vanilla Chai video).

The crochet pattern is really simple– you start with a chain of odd numbered chains, long as you want your shawl wide. Then you work a double crochet into the 5th chain from the hook, chain 1, skip a chain, do a double crochet and chain one, and repeat. See? Really easy (see the video for easy to follow instructions by Jennifer at Fiber Flux).

Below is my finished project–I love the colors! I hope my friend likes her gift. I might make one for myself.