I made a shrug to give Mom this past Christmas. It's a fairly simple pattern from Berroco and can be found here for free. The pattern states to repeat rows 2-4. I was a few rows into it before I realized that, and I didn't want to pull it out and start over, so mine looks a little different since I repeated rows 1-4. The edges of the shrug curl a little more than they would if I'd followed the pattern exactly, so I wouldn't recommend it, but it's certainly not a disaster.
I used Madelinetosh Vintage for this project. This yarn is 100% Merino wool and is machine washable, which I figured would make care of the shrug a little easier for Mom. It looks comfy, don't you think?