A Review of the "Have a Heart" Shawl

(c) Red Heart

I did a review on Monday for the Magic Crochet Wrap - and unfortunately, with such a bad result from that pattern, I was in need of another - you see, I wanted to make a wrap, poncho, or shawl for my youngest daughter. She'd been wanting one for a while ... and when the Magic Crochet Wrap didn't work out - I was on the hunt again.

I decided, on a fluke, to go back through this bin of "freebie flyers" I pull from when yarn shopping. I came across the freebie for a Red Heart pattern called "Have a Heart Shawl." It was cute - and I was in need.... so this was the pattern I chose.



I genuinely had no idea how it would turn out. I liked the image, but I didn't have red yarn... and I'm pretty sure Squirt didn't want a red shawl anyway. I dug through my stash and I had a couple skeins of Red Heart Super Saver in the color Buff. I had remembered buying it because it was on clearance. One quick check of the pattern and I knew I would have enough for the body and part of the edge - that was enough... I didn't have to do the full edge to get the full effect.

I set out to crochet the shawl.

Honestly, it was a very quick crochet and relatively fun (outside of that hdc ch 1 row - UGH). In the end, I'd say it took me no more than 8 hours to work up. For me it was three separate sessions of crochet of just a couple hours each. The stitches and stitch patterns were relatively easy to follow although I did find it necessary to count each row, which is odd for me but if I thought it necessary, maybe you would consider it if you chose to make this shawl.

I didn't have any issues in reading the pattern. Everything seemed very standard. I will admit that when I got to the edge, I was happy I had already decided not to do the full edge because those instructions seemed a bit shady - I didn't work through them, only read them, but I know I would have had to re-read them a few times before they "clicked."

So, after a pretty good run with my crochet hook, I ended up with this Buff version of the Have a Heart Shawl.

On the other side of that head is a HUGE smile. She really liked it.

What I did add was a tie to the front (two chains joined in on opposite sides so she could tie it closed).

From the picture on the pattern flyer it looked like I wouldn't need this, but perhaps I should have used a larger hook (considering I did use the same brand of yarn suggested on the pattern) so that the shawl would overlap more. Of course, had I done that, the shawl would have been much too large to fit my daughter - granted, I could always just modify the pattern counts to come up with a smaller version.

But I really didn't want to do that.

So, in the end I have to say that I did enjoy this pattern. It was a good crochet. I could watch TV while running down the rows, but I did have to pay a bit more attention when switching stitch types from one row to the next. I also know that just from reading the instructions on the edging that I would have really had to think it through and possibly struggle with them a little. As I said, I was happy I had already resolved to not do the edging to the pattern due to not having quite enough yarn - it was at least a good excuse to not have to decipher the pattern.

My rating? I would have to give this pattern 4 balls of yarn out of 5.

Thank you, Red Heart, for a solid pattern. I have satisfied my quest to crochet a wrap for my youngest daughter because of you.