Day of the Dead Shrug- Finished!

With 4 days to spare, the shrug needed for my daughter’s costume is finished!  I can’t wait to see her all dressed up with the Day of the Dead make up applied.  Made from soft cushy wool, she’s sure to stay warm and the shrug doesn’t hide the front of her dress- as requested.

I’m pretty happy with the end results but if I had to do it over I would omit the 2 inches of positive ease I included in the back.  (Why did I think she needed so much ease?!?)  I would also start with fewer sleeve stitches.   (I have no explanation for why I did that!)  At least there’s room to grow so she should be able to wear this for a while.

The inspiration for the construction comes from instructions for a custom top-down raglan provided by Pamela Costello that you can find here– for free!  You could easily create your own custom raglan shrug with Pamela’s directions.  Just omit the front increases.  Once the shrug has enough stitches to separate the sleeves, bind off the back and front stitches while moving the sleeve stitches to waste yarn.  Then pick up the sleeve stitches and knit down to the cuff while reducing as needed.  Lastly, add a lacy crochet trim around the cuffs and the neck/back opening.

It’s hard to decide what will be up next on the needles.  Christmas is coming soon but I do not feel like gift-knitting.  I feel more like selfish-knitting!  🙂