During the holidays Miss Babs had a big sale. I love their yarn and bought a whole lot of it. I used yarn from Miss Babs for my birthday sweater as well. This ruana is crocheted using one of Miss Babs gradient sets in Lady of the Lake. I love the blues and greens that are anchored by the deep charcoal grey.
The pattern is super simple. This was the right length for me (I'm 5'3), but you could cast on more or less depending on your height.
4 mm hook

Cast on 212 with one of the base colors
Row 1: sc in the 3rd chain from the hook, *chain, sk st, sc* repeat * till th e end
Row 2-8: ch 2, sc in the chain space, *chain, sc in the chain space* repeat * till th e end
Row 9-10: HDC in the first chain, sk st, 2 HDC in the next stich. Repeat till the end (V stitch)

Repeat with 8 rows of sc/ch and then 2 rows of the V stitch until you run out of yarn with a full row. For me this was 28 rows

Change to your first gradient color then repeat the pattern until you run out of yarn with a full row. Repeat with the next 2 gradient colors. What I found was that some of the colors had a row more or less than others, but I didn't worry about it because I knew it would blend in the end.

When you get to your 4 gradient color - count your rows. You'll want to make the same number of rows on the other side.

First row with 4th color: Use whatever pattern it should be - whether it is a sc/ch or V stitch. You want to do this for 106 stiches (or half the number of stitches you cast on). Then chain stitch for 104 stitches.

Second row with the 4th color: Use whatever pattern it should be - whether it is a sc/ch or V stitch for the whole row. The first half will be into the chain you just made and then the second half will be in the stitches. You're making the opening in the front right now!

Now just continue on your pattern with the rest of the 4th color then the 5th and the 6th.

Switch back to your base color. Count the number of rows that you've done with colors 4, 5, and 6. Subtract that from the number of rows you had in the first half - that's the number of rows you need to finish. Follow the same pattern to finish.



I decided that I wanted a boarder in the front so I added in 2 rows of the sc/ch in the middle to give it a little pop



I know my patterns aren't as disciplined as most patterns, but as I've been learning to modify other people's patterns and design my own I realized that I wish more patterns helped me how to think about the pattern. Once I started thinking about what the pattern was telling me, it really helped me determine how I can go off and make my own.