Road Trip Crochet

We recently had an unexpected road trip to help out family. I grabbed more than a small amount of yarn for the trip. I finished two projects and started a third.

I've been working on this shawl made with Red Heart It's a Wrap for what seems like ages. It was the first project I finished on the trip. 

I blocked it to open up the lace and I think it payed off. 

This one came out as a really big shawl.

I had another ball of It's a Wrap but I decided I didn't have it in me to make another like that, so I used a technique called Navajo Plying (includes a video for you visual learners) to triple the strands as I worked on this V-Stitch Vortex shawl. I'm definitely glad I added this technique to my tool kit.   

This is how far I had gotten on the first day of the trip. This is a great pattern for working in almost any gauge and it is really easy to stitch. I only had to rip back a few times because I failed to add the second stitch of the v-stitch.

Blocking opens up those v-stitches very nicely. I'm sure I'll use this stitch again, too.

I blocked it to open up the stitches and again I was rewarded.

Tools:
Clover Armour Crochet Hooks (set)
Knitter's Pride Blockers Kit
Knit Picks Blocking Wires Kit
Balance From Puzzle Exercise Mat with EVA Foam Interlocking Tiles