The Five Peaks Tunisian Crochet Shawl: Class Resources

I created this resource list for my students & others to explore the Five Peaks Tunisian crochet shawl, and similar start-in-a-corner, edge-as-you-go L-shaped wraps. This extra information didn’t fit into a standard three-hour class. Some items are names of designers, books, etc., that I may have mentioned in class.

Below I also include a complete list of my downloadable patterns for Tunisian crochet shawls and accessories. In classes I show a huge amount of published and unpublished crochet designs. They illustrate what we learn in class, and what can happen when we take it further.              — Vashti Braha

The Five Peaks Tunisian Crochet Shawl design

• Its Ravelry design page (best headquarters for everything concerning the pattern).
• Its Ravelry CAL discussion thread.
• Interweave Crochet magazine issue in which the original version of the pattern first appeared: Spring 2010 (back issue available on CD?).
• Downloadable pdf of the original magazine version of the pattern in the Interweave Pattern Shop.
• Blog post about the design by Marcy, editor of Interweave Crochet magazine
• My blog post about the development of this design.
• My blog post about the discovery I made that made the Five Peaks Tunisian Crochet Shawl possible
• Online photo set of my studio and process shots of the Five Peaks Shawls

All about the “Half-Hitch” stitch

• How to Crochet Half Hitches & Limpet Stitches My new reference blog post.
• See my How to Increase at the Ends of Tunisian Rows Three Ways post.
• See the CAL discussion thread listed above.

Vashti’s Crochet Inspirations newsletter: Recommended Issues

{This is 2020 Vashti popping in to say that these are in the process of being uploaded to this blog and updated. Links available soon.}

• Issue #48: “Diagonal Tunisian Crochet Discovery”
• Issue #44: “Dainty Eyelets for Winter Lace”
• Issue #64

View all of my downloadable Tunisian crochet shawl patterns

This is the Four Peaks Scarf, a stepping-stone version of the Five Peaks Shawl. It starts in one corner and increases at both edges, just like Five Peaks starts. Then you decrease along one side while increasing along the other for as long as you like. When you decrease along both sides, you’ll eventually create the opposite corner—or the “fourth peak”.

All of these steps are used for the Five Peaks too, but…differently enough to get five corners instead of four.

Isn’t it beautiful what this construction method does with a self-striping yarn?

Getting Geeky About the Geometry of the Five Peaks

• Hypotenuse Calculator
• Create your own free online graph paper, one of my favorite sites.

Inspiring Features, Examples, and Variations of the Five Peaks L-Shape

Try this self-updating Ravelry search. When I tried it, 32 results came up and it seems most of them are true L-Shaped shawls. (Some V-shaped ones are too, but many V’s are not right angles like the bottom point of an L-shaped shawl is.)

• Doris Chan’s Fairlane
• Karen McKenna’s All the Stars Above
• Nicky Epstein’s Princess Anne Vest is a modified one.
• Eclectic Gipsyland’s Cool Days in Paris
• Sachiko Bergin’s Yorkville (knit)

Five Peaks Tunisian Crochet Shawl Class was held September 12, 2012 at the CGOA ‘Knit and Crochet Show’ conference in Reno, Nevada (Grand Sierra Resort).