My favorite thing about the The Montgomery Street Crochet Shawl Free Pattern is that you really can make it your own and your size without having to change or alter the pattern in any way! Make it bandana size or oversized or any size you want! There are so many ways to customize this shawl to suit your style.

For this large size shawl, and to get a good start on my Stash Down 2020 Stash Busting Plan, I used some Lola Bean Yarn that I purchased back in February of last year that was still unused and in my stash. It is a lovely mix of purples and pinks and I knew it would make a perfect Montgomery Street Shawl.

What makes the Montgomery Street Shawl such a great crochet pattern is that you can easily make it your own size and style and none will ever be exactly the same by combining these 2 simple stitches strategicially. Yes, this shawl is made only using TWO beginner crochet stitches!

To size them your way it will depend on yarn selection and hook sizing.

On the smaller pink bandana style I used about two thirds of a skein of DK weight yarn from Stunning String. I used a 4.5 mm hook as called for in the pattern. Instead of wet blocking aggressively, I steam blocked the shawl; which was partially to help keep the size and also because I was on a time crunch to have it ready the next day (you can read more about that here).

As you see on the photo below and for the larger shawl, I had near finished the smaller bandana style version barely using half of the first skein of this lovely Lola Bean Yarn. I loved the way the coloring of the yarn was working up in this pattern so I decided I wanted a bigger shawl.

So I quickly I caked up the second skein and kept going.

Even though I was using Lola Bean Canary Sprout, which is a sport weight yarn, I still used a 4.5mm hook as called for in the pattern and is a larger hook size than I would normally use for sport weight yarn. I did this intentionally knowing that when I blocked the shawl it would bloom creating a lovely drape. How did I know this? Because I did a swatch and blocked the swatch to see how it would go!

I stitched a little bit tight even with the larger hook since I knew I wanted the drape it would give me using a slightly larger hook than the weight of yarn called for.

In the end I used both full skeins of the Lola Bean Canary Sprout yarn which was a total of about 650 yards (each skein is 328 yards) and my finished measurements before blocking were 64” X 42” X 42”. I wet blocked this shawl aggressively and I also used my Picot Edge Blocking Tricks to get the edges to sit the way I wanted. This shawl really blossomed and i am madly in love with the finished result.

See my tips for wet blocking here.

Watch my Craft Yarn Council Video for blocking best practices here.

There are lots of ways to customize the Montgomery Street Shawl. You can use multiple colors to make a color blocked shawl. You can add a contrast color for your trim. The possibilities are pretty endless with this one beginner friendly pattern. I have a feeling I will be making many more of these over the year. It is a wonderful pattern to pop on my favorite TV show and binge away while hooking.

Tag us on social media with #stitchandhustle so we can see your Montgomery Street Shawl variations and creativity,