A Crochet Syllabus for Independent Study

In the tradition of my alma mater, where students design their own courses that are called "independent reading projects" (IRP's), "independent study projects" (ISP's), or tutorials, I've designed a "New Directions in 1970's Crochet" ISP that I'll work through for the next month or two (traditionally at New College the ISP is a special "interterm" required every January).

I invite anyone to join me at any point in the reading and hands-on experiments. I'll post here my thoughts about the readings as I go and I hope others add comments. If there's a book that you think should or should not be on the list, please comment also.

Working Syllabus
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My Questions:

- A rash of crochet books were published in the 1970's with terms like "New", "Creative", "Discovery", "Adventures", etc. in the titles. What were the truly fresh ideas of the time? How have they matured?

- Are there stitches and techniques in these books that I think deserve rejuvenating for the 21st century?

- Which of these books will become essential classics for my own library?

The Reading List:
Most of the books I already own but haven't gotten around to reading. Some are on order from places like www.half.com or www.alibris.com . A few aren't available at all but I might locate a copy at a library later. I'd like to read them in fairly chronological order. On the Core list, I own the first book but the next 2 haven't arrived in the mail yet. I'm thinking I'll give myself until Jan 9 to read the first one, New Design in Crochet by Clinton MacKenzie. Then I expect to pick up speed with the rest. I don't know yet if I'll be making use of the supplementary books. Maybe to skim briefly and randomly.

The Core List so far:
(If the list doesn't display well, try here.)

Date	Author	Title	ISBN
1972	MacKenzie, Clinton D	New design in crochet	0442350694
1972	Feldman, Del Pitt	Crochet: discovery and design	0385051336
1972	Standing, Dorothy	New Ways with Crochet
1974	Brock, Delia	The Adventurous Crocheter	0671217550
1976	Feldman, Annette	Crochet and creative design	0883653346
1978	Dittrick, Mark	Hard Crochet	0801532795
1978	Dittrick	Design Crochet	0801520193
1978	Hubert, Margaret	One-Piece Knits That Fit: How to Knit and Crochet One-Piece Garments	0442235674

Supplementary Reading List:

Date	Author	Title	ISBN
1969	Horne, Caroline	Fashion Crochet	0263707369
1969	Rathbone, Iris	Crochet: a modern guide to an ancient craft;	0707101611
1972	Taylor, Gertrude	AMERICA'S CROCHET BOOK
1972		Vogue guide to crochet	0812814339
1973	Edson, Nicki Hitz	Creative crochet,	0823010406
1973	Rathbone, Iris	More crochet	0877494312
1974	Ventre, Mary Tibbals	Crochet; a basic manual for creative construction (The Crafts series)	0316899607
1975	Feldman, Annette	Handmade Lace and Patterns	006011231X
1975	Standing, Dorothy	Using Crochet Motifs	0263053660
1978	Bonando, Wanda	Stitches, patterns, and projects for crocheting (Harper colophon books)	006091095X
1979	Jacobs, Shanie	Shanie Jacobs' Crochet Book	0672523817
1979	Calder, Louisa	Louisa Calder's Creative Crochet (Penguin Handbooks)	0140463704
1979	Parkinson, Francesca	Knit and crochet your own designs	0668041269

Alert: Crochet Article in knitting magazine

It's a small article and the word "crochet" is buried, making it all the more likely that crocheters will miss this tidbit: in the Winter 2006 issue of Interweave Knits the "bobble yarn" mentioned on the cover is crocheted, then carried along the back as the Andean hats are knitted, and the bobbles show up in patterns of contrasting colors.

This method for adding bobbles of any color anywhere as-u-go merits experimentation by crocheters also!

By the way, the knitting needles used have hooks on the end. It is explained in the article that the hooked ends can be used to pull the bobbles to the front of the work. I had to think that one over for awhile because you can use a hook (i.e. crochet) to create stitches that look like knitted stitches, and I remember a lively discussion once of what defines something as crocheted; is it the tool or the technique? The majority of people went with tool. However in this article's photos, it does look like the people are knitting with two (hooked) needles.

Private Flaming, my Solution

I'm a member of a LOT of internet forums and discussion lists, and the downside is the occasional nasty email I get, sometimes privately ("offlist"). This is marginally related to crochet designing because many of these lists are crochet and/or design-related. Today I invented a way to deal with unwelcome offlist emails: I email the person back with this message, below. If you want to use it too, feel free as long as you include the last line with my name and copyright.

****AUTOMATED EMAIL****

****PLEASE DO NOT REPLY****

YOUR EMAIL TO THE ABOVE ADDRESS HAS BEEN REJECTED DUE TO ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING FATAL ERRORS:

--flaming
--rudeness
--threats
--slander
--irrational or inappropriate criticism
--general mean-spiritness

As a special feature of the beta version of this software, any memory of your message has been permanently deleted so that any future communications can begin with a clean slate.

If you feel your message has been blocked in error, choose your words more carefully next time and try pausing before hitting the "Send" button.
Thank you and have a better day.
Powered by Stressblocker v1.0.0 Beta c2006 Vashti Braha

Lily Chin is SO RIGHT

At CGOA's Chain Link conference (July '06 Valley Forge PA), I took a 2-day, 12-hour designing workshop with Lily. It's one of the best, if not THE best thing I've ever done. One of the tips I learned was to use giant graph paper that comes on a giant easel pad from office supply stores. Each page is marked lightly with 1-inch squares.

THANKS TO THIS TIP, I GOT A SET-IN SLEEVE RIGHT ON THE FIRST TRY! You know, those weird-shaped sleeve pieces that have sleeve caps, and the calculations for them can be as mathematically esoteric as you want them to be? I was resigned to needing 3+ tries before getting it right so I put it off until I had the necessary patience.

Well, not only did I use the graph paper to sketch a rudimentary sleeve-cap-looking curve freehand AND IT WORKED, I could sit in my comfy chair crocheting it up the whole time while the sketch stayed on the floor at my feet. If you want to, you could crochet a bit then see how the shape is matching up to your sketch, because on 1" graph paper it becomes a paper pattern; BUT DON'T GET UP! Merely glance at your sketch, and the gauge info you've written next to it, and you can see: hmmm, looks like the sleeve cap curve is now about 8 squares (inches) wide, and 2 more stitch pattern repeats should bring the next row up to 8".

WHEN I DID GET UP, my piece magically matched my sketch. BEST OF ALL, I tried seaming it to the body of the sweater and it looks great! Like I spent a lifetime designing set-in sleeves just so that this one could come out looking effortlessly chic!

Wish I could show ya a pic of the project but it's under contract. Is it a tantalizing revelation that it involves a certain excess of collar?

"Did You Make That Yourself?"

Today, when a CPer posted about her discomfort over people's well-meaning question, "Did you make that?" I realized that for months I've been wondering what are the dead giveaways that a crocheted garment or accessory is either storebought or a one-of-a-kind handmade?

[Remaining draft deleted because it wished to become an article instead, and it will appear in the upcoming issue of Crochet me.]

Dark Side of Crochet

The Samhain issue of The Anticraft is up! (This link goes to the only crochet pattern offered in this issue and is G-rated; just in case any kids read this blog, there's a bit of profanity to avoid in the title of another pattern.)
Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and despite design deadlines crowding my brain, I started the day wondering what the Dark Side of crochet might be. All I came up with was that when I design something, even if it....

1. is a fun design to do and is likely to be fun for others
2. looks lovely/hip/sophisticated/whatever is my goal
3. can be used for the purpose it was intended (the sweater really does fit, the things that must lay flat really do, a handbag holds its shape and holds stuff inside, etc)

....Even if these can be counted as successes for the design, there is one more, and if it is not met, I could dramatically call it the Dark Side of Crochet:

4. Is crocheting it an improvement over using another method to create it? (Same goes for knitting!)

In other words, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. But you know what? I'm not going to argue that this is the dark side of crochet unless by dark we're talking dark pink, because some of the most creative, rebellious, refreshing, and truly artistic crochet designs do not meet that last requirement. (Same goes for knitting.) So instead of posting about a Dark Side of Crochet, in honor of Halloween (one of my fav holidays) at least I can give you the link to The Anticraft. I also have a felted ghost bunny drying, like I have any time to be making ghost bunnies!

New Vashtiblog on the Side

I crochet toys with glee so I started a glee blog called "ToyDesigningVashti" which should be an easy name for me to remember....

Hat Yoga: the Photos that Wouldn't Upload

These photos go with the Hat Yoga post dated Oct 21::
The Oct 21 entry has all the details on the lefthand hat. The blue one on the right is the Stitch Diva design.
My hat guru is pleased.