My 1st Shrug-Sonata Shrug (3 strands size 10 thread held together, size G hook) -1.jpg

I finished my first shrug!! I am pleased with the way it turned out, although I did have to improvise since I misread the dimension directions (ding-dong me!).
But in the end, I think it turned out very well for a 1st-time shrug.
I held 3 strands of Cameo size 10 crochet thread together and used a size G Clover crochet hook. I used a total of 6 balls and I'm pretty sure that these were 350-yard balls each. I'll have to check my stash.

I do like the weight and "drape" that the cotton threads give this garment, along with the larger hook.
More to come later on this......
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The next morning:
Yes, these discontinued balls of Cameo thread are indeed 350 yards each.  Instead of having 3 balls of thread bouncing around when you crochet, the easiest way to do this is holding the starting ends of 3 separate strands from each ball and then wind this into one big ball.  You are making your own "3 ply" cotton fiber at this point, plus having just 1 large ball is easier to handle and is more portable.

The pattern is by Melissa http://crochetvolution.com.  She has her sample worked up in a beautiful ombre small weight yarn.  On the size dimensions, I messed up.  I did achieve the 21 inches, but misread the 28 inches across the foundation chain (see pattern).  Soooo, I made a change.  I kept the 21 inches for the width and just made the pattern repeats for 28 inches.  The result?  My triple crochet shells go from side-to-side instead of up and down from bottom to top.  Oh well, either way looks good.    :)

*As of now, I wear a size 16 or an X-Large, to give you an idea of what size this shrug would fit.

My pet peeve about gauges ... I don't like a gauge which says to work up stitches such as "shells" or "in pattern."  Why not just do some basic straight stitches for a gauge?  It's much easier.  So, after I finished the shrug, I made up this gauge swatch and measured it in both English and Metric.

Here is a metric gauge:
5 Dc stitches = 3 cm:

And 5 rows of dc stitches = 7 1/2 cm


And for an English gauge:
4 Dc - 1 inch


And 5 dc rows = 3 inches:
 
Here is how I made my gauge swatch:

Here are some closeups of the Tr Shell stitches along with the hook I used:

 

Here are pictures of the sleeve seams.  I  have my hand behind the seam and we are looking at the wrong side of the seam in these pictures:

 And here is the back:

 To form the seams, I did a loose slip stitch across the beginning half tr-shell and across the next tr-shell:

 And here is the finished shrug on a coat hangar!

Check out Melissa's pattern for the Sonata Shrug at Melissa Mall at http://crochetvolution.com!