Crochet is my altar to beauty and access to the great river of cosmic ch'i.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
The Merits of Owning 10-Skein Bags
(Pictured: a delicious 10-ball box of Coats Opera #5 thread)
If I can, I'll buy the number of skeins it takes to make a full mill "bag", if I can get the yarn in its original bag. Yarn companies ship most yarns divided neatly into clear bags. Many of the yarns sold in local yarn shops (LYS) come in 10-skein bags. Some yarns carried in craft chains might be shipped in 3-skein bags or 6-skein bags. I've found that if I buy a 10-skein bag at a yarn shop or online, there are lots of benefits:
- If I change my mind down the road about using the yarn, it's very easy to sell a full 10-skein bag (in its original bag) on the internet, even long after it has been discontinued. Occasionally a LYS will take it back for store credit.
- An intact bag of 10 makes a great gift for a yarn lover!
(10-ball bag of Rowan Linen Drape at left; click pic to see the official label on the bag)
- It's easy to figure out in your head the total yards you have: 10 x yards in each ball = a good amount for a sweater (note that depending on the design, there might only be enough yarn for mid-length sleeves.) So, say each ball has 125 yards, you know that a 10-ball bag gives you 1250 yards total. Ten skeins gives me enough to experiment with some and still have enough to make a summer top, shrug, wrap, hat and scarf, tote, throw pillows, multiple gifts, or a matching set of something.
- It comes home in its own storage bag! 10-ball bags stack on each other well and slide under beds perfectly. The balls stay new-looking because they don't tumble around; instead they're packed neatly like sardines in their mill bags. I'm making two sweaters right now, both with stash yarns that I bought in 10-ball bags about 5 years ago. The yarn is so fresh it's like I bought it yesterday!
- The dye lot is automatically the same for each ball.
- It helps the LYS because they're not left with stray skeins of a dye lot. By the way, if you want to special order a yarn from a LYS, ordering 10 balls of it makes it very easy for the shop.
- Given these benefits, if you find 10-ball bags of a discontinued yarn, the closeout price is a true bargain. Consider my latest acquisition: Artful Yarns Fable, $55 for the bag. That's $5.50 per ball of a premium pima cotton & silk blend, all one dye lot, pristine condition; 184yards ea. = 1840 yds total!
Many of these benefits might also be true for the 3-ball and 6-ball bags at chain stores.
The Caron Pizazz at right came in 3-ball bags.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Podcast Tonight! Join Me!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
This CGOA Conference Broke the Mold!!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Our New Designer-Published Book
Before I leave for the big exciting national CGOA conference thatIwouldn'tmissfortheworld I'm proud to officially announce a new kind of crochet pattern book.
NINETEEN designers rode the publishing rapids together and survived the adventure! We've learned what it's like to put together an instant-download e-book as a group, get a website for it, get it reviewed, and choose the topic for our next one. Many of us will meet up again at the conference this week so who knows what will come of that!
We call our group "Straight From Today's Designers", or SFTDonline.com.
For the book I did a "Barbed Wire Belt" in silver Jelly Yarn. I was able to include a story about the design because I'm one of the publishers. Feels good!
Don't miss Tammy Hildebrand's daughter modeling her belt!
JD Wolfe of Craft Gossip reviewed it here and Lime & Violet reviewed it here. So far, these contributors have blogged it: Angela Best of La Vonne's Knot Just Knits, Doris Chan, Robyn Chachula, Noreen Crone Findlay, Lisa Gentry, Pam Gillette of Knotty Generation, Kim Guzman of Kimane Designs, Amie Hirtes of Nexstitch,Margaret Hubert, and Marty Miller.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Color Play! Great Sites for Inspiration
At the same time that I've been researching upcoming color trends for the Trendy Crochet class, color came up in the International Freeform yahoo group. This summer I just want to play with colors. I can't name a favorite color because of how they change in combination with others. Below are my favorite links.
Colorcube has lots of color games. My favorite is "Color Scrambles" because I love competing with myself to distinguish subtle shades. See also the articles and screensavers.
Colorjack is great for sophisticated color combinations. Many interesting options.
Fun, fun, color news at the Colour Lovers Blog! Best of all, create COLORED PATTERNS!!
Wellstyled has a color wheel that is so well designed that it seemed simplistic to me at first. Then I looked closer and saw the refinements possible. Nicely designed, concise. I learned what my color combining biases are.
Colr.org uses actual random Flickr images (or others images of your choice) for real-life color schemes. It took me awhile to figure it out. Includes the ability to tag colors and if I understand correctly, the tags are communal.
Check out Lollygirl's Project Spectrum. It's not just for knitters anymore.
Lines and Colors blog has a pretty cool discussion of the color wheel and its development.
I bookmarked this list of color names because I learned such things as, I've had heliotrope (not neon yellow), olivine (not acid olive-green), and puce (not dirty caramel-chartreuse) wrong all my life! And, that I'm probably not the only one confused by "indigo" which sometimes appears as a deep herby edgy teal, and other times as a vivid violet. Check out all of the lavenders. How many people know what "zinnwaldite" looks like? Or Mountbatten pink??
And here's Rosebud, Queen of the Couch, circa 1999 (full name Rosebud Fu Fu Shen). If she could speak: "We both know that I'm not supposed to be on the couch, but I was just about to take a delicious nap, so you could waive that rule just once, right? I won't make a regular practice of it."
Rosebud was the most beautiful dog I ever had and probably the most intelligent. Also the closest thing to a tawny pet lion.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tagged: Time to Face the Music
What was I doing 10 years ago?
That was a big year: defended a multidisciplinary thesis on "gender essentialism" so that I could graduate from New College. Succeeded in getting pregnant. Got a puppy, named her Rosebud (nope, not because of the movie). Started paying a mortgage instead of rent. Please check back for a pic of beautiful Rosebud.
Five things on my non-work to do list today:
- Make apptmts for check ups--eye, dental, general physical, blah blah blah.
- Light grocery shopping. Am craving me some fruit and a layer cake.
- Finish cleaning out a closet.
- Get just enough sun.
- Call up a long distance friend.
Snacks I enjoy:
- Cherry pie--I miss my grandmother's made-from-scratch pies. She made her own egg noodles too.
- All nuts except brazilnuts and filberts.
- Chocolate chip cookies from scratch (code for real butter, whole eggs, dark choc)
- DH's hummus
Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
- Create huge prestigious juried cash prizes for crochet design, innovation, & development, you know, like scientists have.
- Spend months at a time living abroad.
- Fund the education of girls worldwide; in some cases this has to include feeding and clothing them. Seems to me that educating women nips many socioeconomic & environmental problems in the bud!
- Create a "Stitchbrain"--a digital bank of every crochet stitch pattern in the world, totally cross-ref'd and indexed and searchable by stitch symbol sequences, clickable alternate formats (full text vs abbrevs vs symbols etc), linked to designs featuring them, zoomable & flippable & rotatable, clickable infinite colorwork combinations yes, swatch uploadability from the crocheting citizens of the planet (with gauge and fiber info). It would be beautiful and cheerful and fun and revolutionary.
Places I've lived (in reverse order):
Hollywood FL
Fairfield IA
Seattle WA (my all-time fav place)
Portland ME
Governors Harbor, The Bahamas (I really did move from the Bahamas to Maine. In autumn!)
Cambridge MA
East Troy & Mukwonago WI
Hamilton OH
Jobs I have had:
Calligrapher
Buyer/purchaser for a specialty market--fun!!
"Herb Goddess" (the title became quasi-official at a health food store)
Cashier/store clerk
French and Biology tutor at a community college
"Credit Associate" of a department store
Office Manager of a dessert company (ohhhh yes)
People I want to know more about:
I'd love to know what Pam was doing 10 years ago and all that!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
CGOA, Collectible Hooks, and Dee Stanziano!
An article that I wrote for Yarn Market News (May'08, page 36) about CGOA's commemorative crochet hooks has been reprinted in full here (scroll down to June 16 entry). If you don't know what "HAS" is, the article will fill you in.
It's an honor to see my article on Dee Stanziano's blog! A big thank you to the YMN editor, Karin Strom, for giving permission to reprint it, and a big hug to Dee. (Can you tell from her photo how huggable she is?)You can see the classes she'll be teaching at the CGOA conference here (scroll down to "Stanziano").
This is a great time to thank Dee also for being CGOA's Volunteer Email Correspondent for six years. If anyone had a crochet question, Dee was there to answer! But that's not all. This amazing CGOA member also moderates the Hook Collector's Group forum (this is a special group within CGOA), has a large and happily active CGOA Chapter in Connecticut, is active in a wide variety of crochet forums, and has agreed to lead one of the guild's most important committees. Not only that but her husband and kids are delightful.
If you haven't yet met Dee, attend the conference next month and sign up for one of her classes!
Saturday, June 14, 2008
More TNNA Show Highlights: the PEOPLE
Steady yourself for the name avalanche: I had remarkable first-time conversations with these new friends: Sandi Wiseheart, Maggie Pace, and Clara Parkes. I treasure the quality time I got to spend with Ellen, Kristin, Amy O'Neill Houck, and Annie Modesitt, in addition to the usual suspects (Marty Miller, Jane Schwartz, Mary Beth Temple, Doris, Drew, Dora, Diane). Finally got to meet Jess and Casey and Mary-Heather! I've come to count on seeing Stitchdiva groove a conference! Can you believe Prudence Mapstone's biz trip to Columbus overlapped with TNNA for a few hours before her flight back to Oz? I wish I'd been able to get an espresso (or something) with Robyn Chachula, Kim Werker, Nancy Brown, and Karin Strom (to name a few) and don't worry, I did get espressos, but always when none of these folks was nearby. I kept wishing I could see TNNA regulars Margaret Hubert, Gwen Blakley Kinsler, Mary Jane Hall, Kathleen Greco, and Cari Clement but they couldn't make it this time. Should I list more people I loved meeting or wish that I'd met at TNNA? Because I'm afraid I'm leaving someone out. I haven't even mentioned the cool yarn shop owners I met. Nor have I really talked about the published sweaters walking the show in living breathing 3D.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Crochet and TNNA 2008
Not TNNA's fashion show, which was composed of the same ratio of crochet to knit as the other two years I've attended (oh, about 1% crochet content). What gets shown on the runway is the result of many factors though, so I'll just leave it at that.
Crocheted garments were sprinkled into many show booths, so crochet fairies have been working hard. These garments ranged from magically delicious to practical classics. Some draped more than the knits; some knit sweaters weighed more than the crocheted ones. [There will come a day when I won't feel the need to point this out] One might be tempted to say that this is what causes my "crochet's on the rise" tingles, but not really--there was some great crochet last year. Tinkerbell is a crocheter.
Here's where something truly new is going on: a new attitude among enough knitting attendees to matter, whether they be yarn shop owners or even 'knit establishment' insiders. Knit blinders are off! People are looking at crochet in its own right, not mentally comparing it to knits [and then coming out with a biased verbal gaff]. Crochet designers as a group [not just big names] seem to have earned some credibility somewhere along the line. An open-minded interest is replacing the closed-minded stony-face that crocheters have encountered for years.
I wish I could go into some specifics that reinforce my impressions but I'm sorry I have to be discreet else how will someone be able trust me with secrets in the future? :-)
Crochet's stock is going up. Isn't it great?
Monday, June 09, 2008
Yarn Discoveries at the TNNA Show
Unusual fiber content:
Silver (yes, the metal, though it doesn't look at all metallic): Zaol BioRope contains "mirawave" which is a silver-content fiber that is supposed to lend the yarn special properties such as being antimicrobial and conducting heat away from the body.
Jadeite (yes, the rock known as jade!) SWTC's "Therapi" is 30% jadeite.
Vicuna, Qiviuk, Guanaco yarns and blends: the yarns were heavenly and so were the first-rate crocheted samples in the booth! (At the website some of the crocheted designs are called "knit".) Here's a hairpin crochet wrap in handspun qiviuk and silk; here's a qiviuk wedding dress.
Milk fiber: Kollage's "Creamy" in icecreamy colors!
Recycled soda bottles? There is a new polar fleece yarn and I can't remember its name nor could I make it to that booth but Marty did and I love the projects she crocheted up already. The yarn looks great crocheted and has all the best qualities of chenille with none of the drawbacks! Hopefully she'll comment here or blog about it herself.
Z-twisted yarns: the yarn is plied with a counterclockwise twist, whereas many yarns (in the US anyway) are s-twisted, which is clockwise. Yeah, I'm the only one I know who actually has a thing for z-twisted yarns. Call me weird, but when I really like the way the yarn makes my stitches look and there's zero splitting, the z-twist is often the reason. (Lefties might prefer s-twist.) When I spot a z-twisted yarn I buy it because I know that even 20 years from now, if it's still in my stash, I'll still enjoy crocheting it.
-Two ShibuiKnits yarns: Highland Wool Alpaca; Merino Alpaca.-Plymouth's Oceanside Organic.
-Be Sweet's Bamboo. 100% Bamboo yarns usually split on me so I've been anxious to try a z-twisted one. There's also a z-twisted bamboo blend called Naturallycaron.com Spa.
-Two Zaol yarns: the silver-content BioRope (see above) and the lace weight 100% tencel Olive.
After attending previous TNNA shows where designer inquiries were not always welcome (as Stefanie mentioned in her blog today), I didn't even bother asking for samples of the above yarns to swatch with. Now that I've blogged about them I wish I had!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Orphan Works Bill: How it Affects You!
If you enjoy seeing new crochet patterns and other creative work (whether or not you design them yourself), an easy way to speak out about this bill if you're a U.S. citizen is to do a "click and send" here or here. Non-U.S. citizens can make a difference too.
Artists and designers everywhere thank you.
You can read the text of the bill here.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Swatching Storm Front
Friday, May 16, 2008
A Day in the Designing Life
3. Continue my marathon swatching for designs I have in mind to wear to TNNA in 3 weeks. This is the first time in 3 years that I have the chance to do this; usually I'm too busy working up designs for editors to make something special and new for myself. The last time I did this the Mermaid Shrug, my favorite, happened. Of course I have 5 projects in mind and that's just crazy.
4. Make decisions clustered around the issue of branding, which affects how I'll upload new patterns to Ravelry, how my site map would be laid out, etc.
5. Complete the teacher's gift I designed which will also become a pdf pattern that I'll offer for sale in Ravelry. (I always procrastinate when I have to put a face on something. The face is everything, you know?)
Monday, May 12, 2008
Local Design Inspiration: Peacocks
(Peacock at top of page: adult male at end of mating season--tail feathers are getting ready to fall out. Peacock at right: young male practicing his dance for when he has real tail feathers to show off.)
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Big Glasses: Hot or Not?
I remember grooving on the tinted self-darkening lenses for the ethno-hippie look I was going for in Wisconsin in 1980. I slept with my hair in 16 braids to get that crimp, people. I wore moccasins to school and macramed the sphinx necklace in the pic.
In 1981 I moved to Iowa and apparently chose bigger Big Glasses to complete my fresh, almost sporty look. It feels good to get some closure around this personal fashion issue so here's a Homecoming pic, still 1981:
Yeah. It's a Gunne Sax dress. I knew in my heart that the Big Glasses had reached a dead end for me. Soon after I got my first pair of contacts.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Freeform Shell Subversion
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.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Jewelry Design Tips: Bead Organization, Simple Starts
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.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The "Picot Fans" Stitch Pattern
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.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
"Baroque Tabard" (Free Pattern); About Tabards
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.
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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.
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I liked being able to make the seams decorative. It is surface-crocheted reverse single crochet (aka "crab stitch").
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Published: Felted Journal Cover
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Handmade Valentines
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.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Birthday Crochet from Mom
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Crochet Ruts, Blocks, Slumps
- 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 :-)
Friday, January 11, 2008
Oooo, Ruby Slippers!
I still need to make a pair for myself, IN EVERY COLOR: an emerald pair, diamond pair, topaz, sapphire, amethyst....
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Mailorder Catalogs for Design Inspiration
When I say "design inspiration", I mean that:
-- the way someone pairs a particular shade of brown with a shade of blue can spark a creative journey that ends in a design that might not even have anything to do with that brown or that blue or the way they are paired or the object on which they are displayed.
-- the way a traditional crochet stitch pattern is rendered in a nontraditional color or fiber or gauge or wardrobe piece frees me to see familiar crochet a new way.
-- when I imagine something made of metal or glass in crocheted fiber instead, the radical change in style, subtext, and other effects can be startling.
-- the direction of sewn seams, pleats, knitted rows, or contrasting fabric nap sparks ideas for using crochet shortrowing decoratively rather than just for shaping or random free-form.
-- a toy in a catalog, or just a fabric print in a kid's decor item, might remind me of the general principle that a cool toy results from anthropomorphizing anything; and then my own imagination soars.
-- sometimes when I look at a woven rug, I see crocheted motifs that aren't really there, and the motifs would make a great bag or afghan or jacket. Sometimes when I look at leather belts I see crocheted bag straps or headbands, or when I look at metal jewelry I see lace garment edgings or headbands.
Newport News--many crocheters would agree with me on this one too! This company tracks fashion fads and trends closely so a designer can use it like a trends newsletter--right down to the super-trendy catchphrases (see above photo). Usually lots of real crochet for dessert.
Peruvian Connection and anthropologie can also be great for accessories.