Shawls

Well,
That green Homespun yarn finally found it's "raison d'etre" (see post of Nov 23). While surfing the web, probably looking at sites recommended in the Crochet Partner group messages http://www.crochetpartners.org/ I found a pattern for a diagonal stitch shawl. I need to double check an old pattern, I believe this is the same stitch as the box stitch. I started on this stitch and really liked the way it worked with the Homespun. A friend asked if I would make a shawl for an older friend who is in a nursing home and is always cold. So I used this pattern to make a shawl. Basically, if you find directions for the stitch, it works up into a triangle, so you have a beautiful shape for a shawl. It took 2 skeins of Homespun on an N hook for a medium sized shawl.
I have been trying to design a shawl in Tunisian crochet, but having problems getting the proper shaping. I may use some "stash" yarn to work several rows of this diagonal stitch and use it as sort of a template for the Tunisian shawl.
The church that we belong to started a Shawl Ministry last month. Once a month the group gets together to work and discuss, working in either knitting or crocheting, other times we can work on our own. I started on a shawl from this pattern. It is a very basic pattern, 2 rows of double crochet, then a row of single. Easy enough for beginners to participate. I also picked up a book at the library, "Folk Shawls: 25 knitting Patterns and Tales from around the World". Inspiration! I think I have a basic understand of knitting and a few stitches, I think I can adapt some of these to Tunisian.