Freeform Shell Subversion

Welcome to all the freeformers who have subscribed to this blog. Thank you Mel for your warm recommendation! Normally I would have blogged before now but whew, a flu came out of nowhere! (All better now.)

In honor of my freeformin' buddies, here's a "shell game" that I've been playing lately. Like many crocheters I start out enjoying shell (or fan) stitch patterns, but after awhile I get a tad rebellious. I think, "5 double crochets all in this stitch? Let's mix it up a bit." I swatched up two stitch patterns: a widely available one (called "Peacock Fan Stitch" in the Harmony Guides) consisting of stacked shells of 13 double trebles (dtr). The other is less common: offset shells of 7 triple trebles (trtr) each separated by a chain stitch (ch).

In the case of the Peacock Fan Stitch, the shells are dramatically solid, and the fact that they stack up in columns helps direct the eye. In the blue swatch I took out some wedges, asymmetrically. Where I removed 4 dtrs I replaced them with 4 chs. There are many things I did not try, such as linked stitches, piggybacks, and more wedges.

In the white swatch, a shell of 7 trtr and 6 chs means I have a total of 13 stitches (sts) to mess with. This pattern starts out more lacy, so the variety of changes don't show up so well. The swatch will serve as a handy shell menu for me though. I tried a variety of linked st combos, and the 3-trtr/10ch shell catches my eye. I wonder how a fabric would look of linked shells mixed with some 2-trtr/11ch shells!

While swatching I noticed the following:
- the asymmetry is more dramatic and effective when there is a bold contrast between open and solid space. The eye needs to be able to organize all of the details that crochet fabric brings to the table.

- the grid gets smudged out the most if the center stitch of a shell or fan is eliminated; in other words, retaining the center stitch of a shell helps everything look regular and balanced. I think of the center stitch of a shell pattern as the Grid Keeper.

- The thinner and smoother the yarn and the larger the shells, the bigger the effect.

Classic stitch patterns are basically grids with symmetry and predictability as part of their charm, but I like to deconstruct them and see crochet also get subtly asymmetrical and random. Surely others have already done this kind of shell subversion and if so I hope someone will leave a comment and let me know. It has been a fun experiment.

Jewelry Design Tips: Bead Organization, Simple Starts

Turns out that I must be able to see my newest and most favorite beads at a glance, just like I need to see my yarn to inspire new ideas. For years I have dutifully sorted beads into little compartments and packets and drawers. Many of my beads remain there, such as seed beads and recycled parts of old jewelry. But when I come home with a batch of fresh bead stash enhancement, I need to see them sparkle in the sun! (Photo taken at sunset, hence the pink cast.)
It's a thick, small cork board that I covered with felt. It's for macrame and so the pins are able to hold the weight of the larger glass beads. I can carry the board around to where I daydream and swatch up designs for them.

While I'm here, how about some tips* for creating your own metal-free crochet jewelry? These ideas come from a post I wrote for a Crochetpartners Yahoo group regarding crochet jewelry for a girl who's allergic to metal.

- I love crocheting my own metal-free jewelry fasteners and findings! Or, sew on a pretty button.

- Kids love Jelly Yarn® for jewelry.

- Take a bookmark pattern that you like and turn it into a bracelet or choker by make it longer, then add a button.

- Some belt patterns could make great bracelets or chokers if you use thread and beads instead of yarn.

- Take a pretty edging pattern and make it long enough for suspending a pendant. I'm often complimented on mine. I used size #20 crochet thread in modern colors.

- Just crochet a chain and feed it through big-holed beads. The craft stores have some exciting new beads and more of them now have big enough holes for crochet. Use thread that is strong and durable, and beads without rough hole edges. (A bead reamer--available at craft stores--will smooth the edges.)

- Take an interesting pattern from a stitch dictionary and do it in tiny thread; sprinkle in some seed beads. Sometimes just the first few rows of a fancy stitch pattern look beautiful as jewelry. Sometimes the opposite is true: many rows with just 1 or 2 or 3 stitch repeats in each row create a special jewelry look.

- Crochet some flowers and slide them onto ribbon. You can do this with any crochet motif, or vintage insertion pattern that is already designed to have a ribbon woven through the middle of it.

- When445t54ee you don't need your crochet jewelry to be metal-free, try any of the above with fine wire (28 gauge or finer) for a special effect and instant style.

Some of my jewelry blog posts:
http://designingvashti.blogspot.com/2007/05/my-shangri-la.html
http://designingvashti.blogspot.com/2007/10/rowanberry-pendant.html
http://designingvashti.blogspot.com/2007/12/icy-bling-for-warm-climes.html

*These tips are for readers who are making jewelry for private, nonprofessional, noncommercial use. For other uses, please consult current intellectual property laws in your country.

The "Picot Fans" Stitch Pattern

Though there are many crochet stitch patterns, and they can be known by many names and variations, the Picot Fans stitch pattern is not one of them. It is remarkably standardized by name (in the stitch dictionaries that use names) and I have found only two minor variations in any dictionaries so far. (See comparison of dictionaries at end of this entry.)

It forms a wide decorative band on the hem and sleeves of the new "Helon Dress"; pattern is available in Rowan Yarn's new summer 2008 pattern book. You can also see a full-size pic of it on the first page of the Spr-Sum'08 issue of Vogue Knitting.

For the sleeves of the Baroque Tabard I wanted a richer, more dramatic, more baroque version of Picot Fans, so instead of a (ch 3, sl st in 3rd ch from hook) type of picot, I used a (ch 4, sc in base dc) picot; I like to work the sc into one front loop and one side loop of the base stitch to add a subtle defined ridge to the fan. I also developed a way to work it in the round with turning after only some rounds for design reasons: I wanted all picot and dc rows to be facing the right side of the garment. (I also added an 8th picot to each fan in case it wasn't 'baroque' enough already.)

Jane Rimmer, CGOA member extraordinaire, wrote a wonderful post for Crochetpartners members in which she compared the many ways to make picots.

Dictionaries in which "Picot Fans" appears:
Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet, p. 147
Harmony Guides v.6 (1998), p.65
A Japanese dictionary with "Crochet 262 Patterns" on the cover, p. 82
280 Crochet Shell Patterns by Darla Sims (2006), p.42 (Row 3 varies slightly)
The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs by Linda P. Schapper (reissued 2007), p.166 (picot varies slightly)

Some stitch pattern collections in which "Picot Fans" does not appear:
The Complete Encyclopedia of Needlework by Therese de Dillmont (1886; 1978 reprint)
A Treasury of Crochet Patterns by Liz Blackwell (1971)
A Complete Guide to Crochet Stitches by Mary Dawson (1972)
Crochet and Creative Design by Annette Feldman (1973)
Handmade Lace and Patterns by Annette Feldman (1975)
Stitches, Patterns and Projects for Crocheting by Wanda Bonando (1978)
New Directions in Crochet by Anne Rabun Ough (1981)
Vogue Dictionary of Crochet Stitches by Anne Matthews (1992 reprint)
Crochet Stitch Bible (German ed.: Die Hakel-Enzyklopadie) by Betty Barnden (2004)

The Complete Book of Crochet by Pam Dawson (1985) has something called "Shell Arch Pattern" (p.156) which is like Picot Fans minus the picots. See Sambuca Jacket in Amazing Crochet Lace by Doris Chan.

If anyone has historical information on the "Picot Fans" stitch pattern, please let me know. I suspect someone modified a scalloped edging pattern.

"Baroque Tabard" (Free Pattern); About Tabards

I really enjoyed designing this. I’ve always wondered if I could make a tabard that is more flattering and stylish than the knitted and crocheted tabards of the 1970’s. (Can't find a good pic on the 'net.) The word "tabard" brings to my mind medieval pages and troubadours, so I went for my impression of an "Eleanor of Aquitaine" look. As you can see from the original sketch, I pictured a soft gray and pink. The finished design is lovely in shades of heathery green, which adds a hint of the Irish to me. Photo on the right courtesy of Caron International Yarns.

If you google "tabard" you'll see that I've thoroughly romanticized them! Tabards used to be a humble men's outer garment, not for troubadours but for foot soldiers, peasants, monks.

It's easy to see why the tabard idea took off for women in the 1970's--it's sporty, folky-eclectic, and an easy make-it-yourself vest/pullover/tunic. Even in the medieval wiki-pics it looks like a simple drop-shoulder construction. Leaving the sides unseamed is a distinguishing feature of the tabard, dating all the way to 1300 AD.

Below is a short list of my favorite features of this "Baroque Tabard" free pattern, available here. I personally like to hear what designers think about their own designs and what the backstory is. If this is a "tooting one's horn" that you, dear reader, find annoying, then you can stop reading now and you won't miss anything, and I appreciate your visit today.

• the tunic is worked in vertical rows of hdc so that the subtle color-striping built in to the yarn looks the same for any size including plus-sizes (when a self-striping yarn is worked in horizontal rows, the effect is not the same for plus-sizes.) The vertical lines also make the tabard style more flattering.

• I totally invented the lace tie stitch pattern and significantly changed the classic “picot fans” stitch pattern of the sleeves. I love the super-lacy sleeves (that's where the "baroque" part comes in even though Queen Eleanor lived about 400 years prior to the Baroque period).
  

• The hdc bodice works up quickly and includes simple shoulder and neck shaping. This keeps the traditional drop-shoulder tabard from looking boxy or clunky.
  

• I liked being able to make the seams decorative. It is surface-crocheted reverse single crochet (aka "crab stitch").

Published: Felted Journal Cover

Felted Crochet, the latest book in the popular Vogue Knitting's On the Go series, is due out April 1. I received my contributor's copy and it's great! The range of projects is fun and inspiring and I would have added it to my library even if I didn't have a design in it. Below is a pic of the felted piece before blocking. As you can see, it felted evenly with no wonky ruffled edges. I chalk that up partly to the yarn and partly to the design: I worked the final rounds differently so that they pull in neatly during felting instead of splaying out. By doing a rectangle in the round instead of back and forth, the height and width shrink equally so that the felted rectangle retains the original proportions.

As a designer, Louet Riverstone is my favorite felting yarn. The stitches felt beautifully and there are no odd little surprises in color, texture, or felting process. My prototype came out as fine as the published sample! It inspired this blog entry. I'm a big fan of other Louet yarns too, such as Euroflax, KidLin, and Gems. (Come to think of it, Euroflax inspired this entry.)

Handmade Valentines

Here's my twist on Bella Dia's Sweet Heart Crochet Pattern, in which I find yet another way to marry crochet with 3D fabric paint LOL! (I blogged another way here, and I have more ways I'll blog about when the designs let me.) The full glittery gold effect doesn't show in this photo but in the morning sun it was ardently ablaze with my love for Mr. DesigningVashti.

Bella Dia offers her irresistible pattern as a full-color tutorial. It's an elegantly simple pattern and be sure to scroll to the end to see the color and edging variations.
I'm a big fan of handmade valentines and used to sell beribboned cloth and watercolor ones at local fairs back in the '80's. I don't know why it didn't occur to me back then to design some crocheted versions! I would have enjoyed the process more. On the other hand, I remember swooning over the fabrics and trims at the time.
I hope everyone has some close encounters with chocolate, roses, and snuggle time.

Birthday Crochet from Mom

I had a birthday last week and here's a lovely thread crochet heart doily from Mom. Doilies for me reserve a spot for something special. When I received a stash-enhancing shipment of Opera thread a few days later, I knew what this sweet lacy spot was waiting to be: a threadrest. Between swatches, crochet thread accumulates "yin" (kind of like fruit ripening) while it rests until it spilleth over into another swatch. See? Doesn't it look like it's getting juicy and sweet?

If you think I'm nuts, then you don't know about stash-love. Think of it as being a visual poem.

Crochet Ruts, Blocks, Slumps

Periodically the question comes up in a crochet forum: "What do you do when you find yourself in a crochet slump?" It just came up today in the Crochet Partners Yahoo group. It reminded me of the answer I gave when a similar question came up in the same group back in June '07. I refer back to this post myself occasionally so I thought I'd post it here, with additional tips and links:

- I flip through my favorite stitch dictionaries, like the Harmony Guides. I always see a stitch pattern that I want to try. Sometimes it's one I've tried but this time I try adding beads to some of the stitches, or I change colors where I never have before.

- I take a familiar pattern and try it with a very different material and hook size. For example, Doris Chan says she "exploded doilies" by doing them in drapey yarn and larger hook. Others have taken doily patterns and with 3 strands of Red Heart held together, they made beautiful porch doilies. I made a doily with colored wire and beads once--the pattern is simple but the materials made it look fancy. If there's an afghan square that has beautiful colorwork, I try it with embroidery floss and a small steel hook instead--with floss you can have all the colors of the rainbow for just $1 each or so and it makes a beautiful piece of jewelry, headband, etc.

- I try to crochet "badly" or the wrong way or as if I don't even know how. If I yarn over one way, I try the other way. Or I try going into the "wrong" part of a stitch. You can invent new stitches this way or understand how stitches came to be.

- I make up games like I roll the dice and put that many stitches in the next stitch and roll again. Or do a bobble in that many stitches, etc. Or I try some other "code" like turning someone's birthday into stripes.

- I start a swatch some weird way. Kind of like freeforming. Instead starting with a foundation chain then working rows, maybe I work both sides of the chain but in a "U" shape (not in the round), or maybe a figure-8 of bobbles or something.

- I go through my box of swatches and see if there's one that I can turn into something right away for an instant FO (finished object). Like the time I glued a fancy swatch to the cover of a small spiral notebook: I love everything about it! I love the swatch and yarn so now I get to SEE and USE it; the notepad was old and now it looks like new; the crochet makes the notepad soft to hold; it was easy to add a strap for carrying; and best of all I have an instant FO. Add a tail to a flower and you have an instant luggage identifier. I have found swatches that can become instant coffee cozies or wrist cuffs or short neckscarves or throw pillows with just 1 seam or decorative edge!

- When I go through my swatches, I use them for experimenting with new techniques. I stay focused on that liberating word "experiment". The crochet part is already done, now I can try felting the swatch if it's animal fiber; or I can try embellishing with surface crochet, or cross stitch, or beads, fabric paint, weaving, etc.

- I pick up an unusual material to crochet with, for example, rag or tshirt strips, Jelly Yarn, macrame jute, covered elastic cord, leather lacing, waxed linen cord, and yes, even the aerial roots of strangler fig trees.

- Crocheting something for a child really renews my crochet fun and often gives me new design ideas, especially when I let the child suggest a color scheme or type of toy. (Some of these are/will be on my other blog or my Ravelry page). Yesterday at lunch my son's friend imagined a sweater with 3 sleeves. It would be easy and quick to crochet a tiny version and then see a child's face light up--there's nothing like it. One time my son kept stretching a Jelly Yarn swatch then watching it spring back into a curled up shape, and it gave me this worm idea.
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This list is from a designing perspective. Some of the other responses to this topic, by non-designers, are sometimes very different from the above; for example, many people get past a slump by crocheting for a charity, or they go yarn shopping :-)