Neckwarmer & Shawl for MB

Assalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh :

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
(May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you)

December last year, a friend of mine (MB) was asking me to make a neckwarmer for himself and a shawl for his mom.  He shown me sample picture of a shawl that he would like to have for his mom. I did not expecting him to ask me to make shawl for his mom because I thought it would take long time for me to make.

He would like to have the neckwarmer made from wool. The color he chose was either grey or red, while for the shawl; I could pick any nice color.

I searched some online shops that I knew for nice yarn, but I couldn't find them. Once I found nice bulky wool yarn but didn't have the color that I needed. 

Last March, I found a nice yarn, although it was not 100% wool (it was only 50% Merino wool) and it was not bulky, but it was the right color I needed which was grey. The yarn was only left 3 balls, I purchased all. I also purchased nice yarns for the shawl; the color I chose was Lemon Drops.

For the neckwarmer; I had to double the yarn to make it little bit thicker. The technique I used was only FPDC (Front Post Double Crochet) and BPDC (Back Post Double Crochet). It took me only one day to finish it.

Neckwarmer with wooden buttons

For the shawl; first, I planed to crochet it, I chose the Pucuk Rebung motif. I chose this motif because I believed it would be so special, as far as I knew no one had ever used this motif in crochet or knit. Pucuk Rebung is a traditional motif used in Songket from Riau. Songket is a woven sarong.  I like this motif because I am from Riau.

I stared to crochet the Pucuk Rebung motif by Fillet crochet technique, however to make just one motif needed almost one ball. To make the shawl I figured out I needed 5  Pucuk Rebung motif plus edging, while I only had 3 balls. I asked the shop whether they still had the same yarn and the same color. My bad luck, they didn't have the same color. I was thinking to combine the color, but I couldn't find other color that match with my yarn. I was kind of frustration and stress. At the end the shop owner said that she had one same yarn and same color, however the yarn was not in complete shape (no more name tag, and had been less about 1 meter). She reduced the price if I wanted to buy that yarn. I bargained little bit, but she didn't agree with the price that I asked. After several times I beg her and rise up little bit the price, finally she agreed. Alhamdulillah.

So I have 4 balls to make the shawl. I believed those yarns still not enough if I crochet it. With very heavy breath taking; I just had to decide to knit the shawl to save the yarn. It was very tough decision for me because I was not a knitter, my knowledge and skill of knit was still very little. So I was kind of afraid whether I could finish it or not.

With Bismillah, I started to knit the shawl. At the beginning I arranged to knit 5 Pucuk Rebung motifs in lace knitting. After half way (almost 2 balls and 7 days) of work, I put it on to mannequin just to have a look, and it did not look good at all, not like what I was expecting in my mind, and it looked too large.  I was kind of sad and confused what should I do. Continue the work or fog it all??? So dilemma..

Again with Bismillah, I decided not to continue the work. I took the other end of yarn from the 2^nd ball, I started from the beginning again, at this time I arranged to use 4 Pucuk Rebung motifs with the same technique – lace knitting. Row by row, and day by day I knit the shawl slowly but sure with full of happiness. I was happy to knit.

As I mentioned before, I was not a knitter, so it took me almost one month to finish the shawl.The shawl had completely done  on 3^rd of May 2015.

Now this shawl already in Morocco, in the hand of new owner, my friend's mom. Hope she like it and it can keep her warm. 

I have made the pattern for this shawl and can be found in here: Pucuk Rebung Shawl

Pucuk Rebung Shawl

The blue marbles still hang on the shawl 

Pucuk Rebung motif in lace knit

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