I finished this wrap quite a while ago but was holding off writing about it. Why? I was hoping to include some photos of myself wearing it with a beautiful summer dress as I made my way out for a lovely summer evening meal. But, alas, that was not going to happen here in England for a while yet, even with some restaurants opening soon, albeit restrictively. So, here I am in my back garden, jeans and t-shirt wearing my Harmony wrap.

Harmony is crocheted using Rowan’s Cashmere Haze yarn, a luxurious blend of 40% alpaca, 30% cashmere and 30% silk. It is very soft and very squishable. Working with this yarn is like knitting/crocheting with clouds and the result is so very ethereal. Although Cashmere Haze is very delicate with a slight fluffy haze, it does have a strong core.

The patten itself consists of 3 rows repeated, after the initial foundation chain and row of dc’s, until the wrap measures 200 cm or the desired length. It is a fairly straightforward pattern and easy to do once you have repeated it a few times. The trickiest row was the crossed dtr stitch in row 1 of the 3 row pattern repeat. I had to break the instructions down on paper, writing it all out into steps. There were 12 steps all together in this one stitch. Once I did this and could see the stitch that was being created, it was easy to memorise and, in fact, the repetitiveness became quite rhythmical. You can see the stitch pattern and also the yarn’s complementary core in the photo below…

I crocheted my Harmony Wrap in the shade 702 Sunrise which is a kind of pinky-peachy colour. I wasn’t sure which shade to choose at first until I saw Sunrise in John Lewis in the Kingston-upon-Thames branch and that made my mind up. It is such a beautiful colour! It does also come in 7 other shades so you will be able to find something you like, I’m sure.

As you can see from the earlier photo I decided to make my wrap extra special by adding 4mm Swarovski Crystal Bicones in the colour Light Rose…

As Swarovski crystals are expensive I knew that I would not be able to add a great quantity but still needed to add enough so that they made a difference to the finished product. So, I devised a sequence to indicate where I would add a crystal. This would be on the 1st and 6th stitch of the first 2nd row and then on the 3rd and 8th stitch of the following 2nd row, and so on, always keeping the crystals 5 stitches apart, as in the photo below. This scattered the crystals attractively.

The finished wrap is elegant with or without the crystals. It is ideal for those summer evenings when the sun is going down and an evening chill fills the air. You can just drape it over your shoulders or, as it is fairly long, fold it in half and use it double for extra warmth. You could also use it as a winter scarf and wrap it around and around your neck if you like.

You can find the pattern for Harmony in the Rowan Focus – Natural Fibres publication of Rowan Knitting and Crochet Magazine 66.

You may remember that Magazine 66 consists of two separate publications: the main magazine and the Rowan Focus magazine. Both magazines are bound together with a Rowan wrap or you can buy them separately. Rowan Focus – Natural Fibres consists of a collection of 15 designs by Lisa Richardson using not only Cashmere Haze but their other new yarn, Island Blend. If you don’t want to buy the magazines you can purchase a digital version of Harmony for £4.00 from Rowan’s website, click here.

I am very pleased with my Harmony Wrap. I really do appreciate that Rowan offer such exquisite natural fibres which allow you to create beautiful garments that can last a lifetime.

So, are you already crocheting the Harmony Wrap or think you might like to? Or have you used Cashmere Haze? Please do let me know by scrolling down to “Leave a Reply” below.

Thanks for reading my blog. Stay safe and well.

Esther x

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