Welcome to November, friends!
This is possibly the last pattern I will release in 2025. It is not impossible that I might release another, but my hands are much slower these days and my mind is very distracted. I am still designing, just not at the rate I used to. Life is hard, and 2025 has been the absolute hardest year of my life.
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I really don’t want to bore you or myself with the long months leading up until the worst day of my life, but I will instead sum it up briefly by saying that the first 7 months beat my husband and I up. They were very stressful months and taxed us both. Then August happened and my life changed in an instant.
My best friend, the love of my life, my soulmate- my husband passed away unexpectedly.
The weeks that have followed have been frankly unbearable. I have cried every day since the worst day of my life and I mark time by consecutive days I have cried, nights I have slept alone, weeks that I have survived.
I have always enjoyed my full-time job and never minded going to work, especially since I work remotely and my commute is about 20 feet. But now I dread evenings and weekends. You know how normally it feels like the work days are long and the evenings and weekends pass too quickly? It is now the complete opposite in my reality. My work days fly by and then my evenings crawl by. My weekends feel like a full week. It is very strange, and not something you can fathom unless you have lived it.
I have joined yet another in a very long list of unfortunate clubs I belong to, like the Dead Dad Club and the Dead Mom Club. My mom was 47 when she was widowed. She is the only person I know who was also widowed in her forties, but I lost her when I was 30 and have already spent almost 13 years wishing I could ask for her perspective on various stages of my life. I have needed parenting advice and marriage advice and just had to muddle through on my own.
I really want to write about my husband and tell you so many things about him- how he made me laugh every day that I knew him, how he was the best friend I have ever had, how he truly was my heart’s companion, and how I miss him every moment of every day- but I really just can’t bear the typing action. Ruby Sue the Shih Poo is sitting in my lap as I sit at my computer chair, and for some reason the act of crying while typing makes my back ache in a new and truly excruciating way.
So I am now drying my eyes and taking a breath as we switch the focus from my “wet face” as my coworkers and I call it to the reason you came to this post today- the Quiet Contentment Shawl pattern.
This is my newest Forever Free pattern, which you can view here at Straight Hooked!
What’s a Forever Free pattern?
Forever Free patterns are full-length crochet patterns that are available to view here on the Straight Hooked blog. I am able to provide these patterns at no cost to you by allowing ads to appear on your screen. I generate a very small amount of revenue for each ad (I’m talking fractions of a cent), but the more my guests see, stay and navigate around my site, the more those few cents per visitor add up. Of course I would make a much better wage if folks purchased the PDF, but I would rather share this design with you for very little money than for you not to have the opportunity to try this pattern.
I began this design 40 days after I lost my love. I really like the texture of this design and how quickly each row is completed. I have a hard time not allowing my mind to wander with thoughts of my husband and realize I have no idea how long I have not been paying attention to what I’m watching on tv. I’ve resigned myself to only watching television series that I have seen repeatedly so I don’t care when I miss an episode and a half. For my hands though, I need something with just enough variety of stitch placement that I don’t get too bored to work on it, but not so much that I have to keep frogging because I got distracted.
The Quiet Contentment Shawl is a 6 row repeat that fit my current needs perfectly, and I am proud to share it with you as my final contribution to the 2025 Global Crochet Collaboration with the Crochet Designer Community. The first 3 weeks of each month in 2025, one of the participating designers has shared a new Forever Free crochet pattern on their blog. This has been a fun way for you to get to meet and try out patterns from designers you may not be familiar with, and it has also been fun for me to make new crochet friends around the world!
You can view the Quiet Contentment Shawl pattern below. If you prefer an ad-free experience, you can purchase the PDF exclusively here at Straight Hooked:
Quiet Contentment Shawl FREE crochet pattern:
Materials:
975 yards Light weight (3) yarn- I used 3 balls of Lion Brand Mandala Sparkle in Draco for my design sample
5mm crochet hook
Stitch markers
Scissors
Finishing Needle
Abbreviations:
bpdc- back post double crochet
ch- chain
dc- double crochet
fpdc- front post double crochet
sc- single crochet
sk- skip
stsc- stacked single crochet
st(s)- stitch(es)
Gauge:
10 dc x 6 rows= 2” square
Finished Size:
60” long x 15.5” wide
Notes:
This pattern is written in US terminology
Chains within a row are counted as a stitch
Stitches marked within parenthesis ( ) are placed within the same stitch or chain space
Visit my Rumble channel for stitch tutorial videos
Pattern Instructions:
Body
R1. ch 81, sc across chain, turn. (80)
R2. stsc, dc 2, *sk 2 sts, (2dc, ch2, 2dc), sk 2 sts, dc 5*, repeat from *to* 6 more times, sk 2 sts, (2dc, ch2, 2dc), sk 2 sts, dc 3, turn, (89)
R3. stsc, fpdc 2, *sk 2 sts, (2dc, ch2, 2dc), sk 2 sts, fpdc 5*, repeat from *to* 6 more times, sk 2 sts, (2dc, ch2, 2dc), sk 2 sts, fpdc 2, dc, turn. (89)
R4. stsc, bpdc 2, *sk 2 sts, (2dc, ch2, 2dc), sk 2 sts, bpdc 5*, repeat from *to* 6 more times, sk 2 sts, (2dc, ch2, 2dc), sk 2 sts, bpdc 2, dc, turn. (89)
R5. (stsc, 2dc), *sk 2 sts, dc 2, dc in ch sp, dc 2, sk 2 sts, (2dc, ch2, 2dc)*, repeat from *to* 6 more times, sk 2 sts, dc 2, dc in ch sp, dc 2, sk 2 sts, 3dc in stsc, turn. (89)
R6. (stsc, 2dc), *sk 2 sts, bpdc 5, sk 2 sts, (2dc, ch2, 2dc)*, repeat from *to* 6 more times, sk 2 sts, bpdc 5, sk 2 sts, 3dc in stsc, turn. (89)
R7. (stsc, 2dc), *sk 2 sts, fpdc 5, sk 2 sts, (2dc, ch2, 2dc)*, repeat from *to* 6 more times, sk 2 sts, fpdc 5, sk 2 sts, 3dc in stsc, turn. (89)
R8. stsc, dc 2, *sk 2 sts,(2dc, ch2, 2dc), sk 2 sts, dc 2, dc in ch sp, dc 2,* repeat from *to* 6 more times, sk 2 sts,(2dc, ch2, 2dc), sk 2 sts, dc 3, turn. (89)
R9-R176. Repeat Rows 3-8
R177. Repeat Row 3
R178. Repeat Row 4
R179. Repeat Row 5
R180. Repeat Row 6
R181. Repeat Row 7
R182. ch1, sc 80, placing 1 sc in each ch2 sp (80)
Border:
Ch1, 2sc in last st, sc 362 along edge, placing 2 sc in each dc row, 3sc in corner, sc 78, 3sc in corner, sc 362, 3sc, sc 79, slst to 1st sc, finish off and weave in ends. (892)
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I really do want to share more about my life with Bear, and I am hoping to get the strength to write about it before this terrible year comes to a close. Be sure to come visit again soon!
Until next time,
Happy Hooking!
~Malena
