I went through a phase of crocheting half-granny triangle shawls, despite the fact that they’re the wrong shape for my body. They’re not very wide and they are very deep, with a point that aims directly at my posterior. So I was wondering if there was a way to make something that looked like a half-granny square but was a more flattering shape for my body.

I found inspiration in Edie Eckman’s book, Connect the Shapes Crochet Motifs — a half hexagon! Really, it’s just one additional wedge added to a triangle, but that wedge makes all the difference. As for the name, take half of the letters away from HEXAGON and you get HXGN.

I stumbled upon the Namolio linen yarn at Unwind Brighton in the summer of 2014. Since then, Namolio has stopped offering this linen in tiny skeins, but I’ve got some suggestions for you in the Yarn Characteristics section below. Of course, you can easily use leftover yarns that are the same weight, like sock yarn, or any long-color-change yarn.

Namolio 5-ply (shown above) is a light-fingering-weight multi-stranded pure linen yarn. It’s no longer available in the same small skeins I used. To get the same crisp look, you’ll want 700 yards/650 metres of light-fingering-weight linen, hemp or cotton yarn. The new linen/silk blend from Miss Babs, Damask, would give a slightly drapier, more elegant-looking result. You can also use mini-skeins or leftovers of any piled yarn, noting that drapier fibers like superwash wools, alpaca, or silk, will result in a drapier shawl.

Be sure to adjust the hook size to get a similarly open fabric, whatever yarn you use. This will necessarily result in a finished project of a different size. Working with a heavier yarn can result in a similar-size shawl using less yardage. Since this design can be worked until your yarn is used up, the finished size is up to you. If using DK or worsted weight, you’ll need about 400-500 yds/350-450m to get a similar size.