When I started this blog, I intended to not write about work. But I also planned to write about the people, places, and things that I think about while I crochet, and for this project I was thinking about work. More specifically, I was eager to solve a problem at work, and Mijo Crochet‘s Tasty Tamarind shawl is the solution.
I really think I have the greatest job. I teach computer science to undergraduate students on a beautiful campus. I work with intelligent, thoughtful, and interesting people (heck, I married one of them). I get to watch as students start making important decisions and grow into young adults. I get to help them learn new things. I got to live in Seattle for four months and spend time thinking about interesting problems. Yes, there are frustrations, and sometimes I feel like work is in the way of my crochet (ha!), but I can’t think of anything else I would rather do.
So what’s the problem? My office is freezing! Year round! It is overly air conditioned in the humid southeastern U.S. summers, and I just can’t get warm in the winter. I need a big, cozy, beautiful shawl to keep me warm! Even though my office is pretty casual, I don’t think a Snuggie is a viable solution (but I still want one).
When Johanna told me about Tasty Tamarind, I knew right away I wanted to make this elegant shawl to keep in my office. I used Scheepjes Whirligig yarn in a previous project – Ocean State of Mind (also by Mijo Crochet) that I made for my dad. So I knew the yarn would be snuggly and warm and really fun to work with. Whirligig is lush wool and alpaca (I love alpacas!). The DK weight is substantial but not bulky. So I ordered the yarn in Lavender to Teal, which I had my eye on for a while. These colors scream me. I love teal! The Whirligig teal is the perfect blue-green shade. I love lavender! I love the color, but I especially the plant – I carried a lavender bouquet and even wore some lavender in my hair for my wedding. I love gray! It is my favorite neutral, and there’s a beautiful gray ombre between the teal and lavender, with the light gray helping to shade the lavender, and the dark gray making a beautiful ply with the teal. I got started on Tasty Tamarind as soon as I could. And even though the very last blog post I wrote about a Mijo Crochet design talked about how projects are done in their own time, I couldn’t wait to finish this one!
Getting my hair done for my wedding. 
My wedding bouquet is displayed in my living room.
Johanna’s Tasty Tamarind pattern made the journey a lot of fun. This design includes a beautiful lace, fun puffs that are worked around your previous stitch to give them a unique angle, and a lovely front-post-double-crochet detail. I needed to keep the pattern nearby since the composition of stitches is slightly unpredictable, but this yields an interesting and beautiful final product. As is usual with Mijo Crochet patterns, the pattern is easy to read and follow.
The making of
Yarn: Scheepjes Whirligig in 204 Lavender to Teal (1 cake) and Whirligigette in 252 Teal (about 2/3 of 1 cake)
Hook: 5.0mm (H)
Final size (after blocking): 82 inches/208 cm (long edge); 37.5 inches/95 cm (long edge to tip)
The pattern is designed to use one full Whirligig, and includes a description of how to make it bigger, if desired. I hadn’t planned to extend the shawl since Whirligig will results in a substantial size. However, when I got towards the end, I really wanted there to be more teal. So I ordered a teal Whirligigette and (impatiently) waited for it to arrive. I ended up extending it differently than described in the pattern: After row 53, I added another repeat of rows 10-15. I also added an extra row 8 and row 9 before adding the border. This used about 2/3 of the Whirligigette.
My shawl will be perfect for keeping me warm in my office!
