Category Archives: Patterns/Design Thoughts

Spanish Combs Scarf with Erika Knight Yarn = A Great Effect

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ScannedImageSo at my home it already feels like summer. I would really like to experience spring, but I guess since winter skipped California this year that summer is due. However that only means that I can starting wishing it was fall all that much earlier!
So it makes it fitting that I am releasing a new” 2 in 1” pattern this week. Often when we see a photo of a pattern we do not think about how the yarn choice really affects the finished item, but this pattern capitalizes upon it. I had the pleasure of working with some gorgeous Erika Knight Yarns to create a scarf, Spanish Combs Scarf, which has two very different effects depending on the yarn used.

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Vintage Spanish Combs Scarf Photo courtesy Blue Water Fibers

The stitch technique itself was inspired by the ornate combs that adorned the hair of women in Spain during the centuries gone by. These “combs” nestle together and form an interesting dance of positive and negative space.

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Maxi Spanish Combs Scarf Photo courtesy of Blue Water Fibers

The Vintage Yarn creates a scarf that has a soft drape and nice open stitch work for a smooth edged classic look, while the Maxi Yarn has a warm chunky image. The fringe gives it a very retro look (it is a version that I have already been asked to make up as holiday gifts). These two scarves essentially share the same pattern, with the only difference being the finished sizes, the materials and the gauge.

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Maxi Spanish Combs Scarf Photo courtesy of Blue Water Fibers

If you get the opportunity, please check it out (available at Craftsy & Ravelry), and if you have the opportunity to play with some of Erika Knights Yarn, do it. You won’t be disappointed.

A Review: The Fine Art of Crochet by Gwen Blakely Kinsler

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ScannedImageGwen Blakely Kinsler, has done much for the skill of crochet. Twenty years ago she began the Crochet Guild of America, creating a national, excuse me, international setting for crocheters of every level and area of interest to come together and share the love they have for a hook and the fabrics it creates. She continues bringing new life to crochet by highlighting those utilizing crochet in fine arts with her new book, The Fine Art of Crochet Innovative Works from 20 Contemporary Artists.

So I have an admiration of art, even fine art, but I will admit that contemporary art does not always speak to me. So reading through this new book was a revealing time for me. Just flipping through the pages I would see photos of various pieces of art, things that I would have to be in a different mindset to fully appreciate, but then I began to read. 51LhiyLx5ML

Each artist has a very different approach and message that they are expelling through works that involve crochet and this book allows you to enter the creative process and approach by each artist, as Gwen gives each a personal voice. It gave me a greater appreciation of the work that they do, I could see more in their art then I ever could on my own. It was interesting to see how each artist discovered crochet as a medium, as no one ever set out and imagined using crochet in their art, but came to it for different reasons and spoke different things.

Even days later, the work of some of the artists have remained in my mind. The way Jo Hamilton uses crochet as a form of paint, while “showing the brush strokes” was amazing to me, and I can vastly appreciate the skill involved to accomplish the “painting”. Soonran Youn work has such meaning that I may have over looked without understanding her theory of expression. The work of Carol Hummel feels like home, yet really is revolutionary in its approach and undertaking.  Jerry Bleem has such a message in his work by his materials used that it really is thought provoking. I have had the pleasure of taking a class from Dr. Carol Ventura, so I have appreciated her work up close, but her chapter allowed me to see more about her creative process and growth of her art.

The Fine Art of Crochet is more than just an outline of an artist’s life and how they use crochet in the art that they place in museums. It can speak to you, as it spoke to me, and allow of an awaking in a new approach that my crochet can take, and at very least provoke a new understanding of crochet elevated from a craft, a hobby, to fine art.

Double Limpets

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Double Limpet Ascot 2

Photo Courtesy of Annie’s

ScannedImageThe Double Limpet is another stitch that I have been playing with. I enjoy the technique to this stitch, probably because I like the “casting on” of loops and working them off to create this unique texture. It reminds me of little shells or fins that stand up and ask to be taken notice of on a fabric.

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Photo courtesy of Annie’s

The ascot scarf grew out of this whimsical approach. The double limpets create a fun texture at either end and also allow for the scarf to be slipped through a “bridge” of stitches to secure to itself.You can find a full description of the stitch technique, in three variations, as well as the ascot pattern in the Summer 2014 issue of Crochet! Magazine (currently available on news stands).  Sm2014 C!

A Month of Crochet- A Focus on Color

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ScannedImageWow, a whole month focused on crochet! It has been fun following all the blogs featured on the Crochetville blog tour, and thank you Amy & Donna for all your hard work in pulling this together.National Crochet Month 2014

 

This year the blog tour is featuring the charitable organization of Halos of Hope. Please consider making a hat for the cause or make a financial contribution to this organization that helps many with cancer. Find more information at Halos of Hope. Halos of Hope

 

So spring is in the air, it always brings about the thoughts of color for me, which is always an inspiration. Granted I have not been living in a world of winter white, but seeing all the flowers open up and the trees beginning to bloom looks like a painters palette to me. So I grab some yarn and begin to play, but not all yarns are created equal.

 

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Notice the difference between the lines of color in the bottom of the swatch, double crochet clusters, and the band toward the top worked as single crochet. Different stitches, different color pooling.

Lately I have pulled toward variegated yarns, ones that have a mixture and change of color within the skein. However the length of each color run can make a real difference in how my finished fabric looks, so I have to take it into consideration.  I pulled some variegated yarn off the shelf the other day, with the inspiration of spring, but found that my fabric just looked like a bunch of speckled dots, and there was no “color pooling” that happens when colors stack up upon themselves.

 

Why did my work look like little specks? The stitches I was using. Most yarns are not created with crocheters as the primary user in mind, so as a result the color repeats are usually shorter then would best highlight the art of crochet stitches. Often each stitch will include more than one color resulting in speckling. However, with a little playing, stitches can be found that act a little differently. A good example of this is Tunisian crochet, that gives pooling more like that of knitting, but even changing from double crochet to single crochet can create a difference in the appearance of the fabric, and one that might be more what I am looking for.

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Left and Right same yarn, different stitch. Left in Tunisian, Right in single crochet cluster.

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I was playing with some hanks (the twisted up rounds of yarn that need to be unwound into a ball for easier using), that were dyed by an Independent dyer , these are businesses that are usually small in size and create beautifully colored yarns in small batches, some even painted by hand. I found the color runs of each hank to have been about a foot long, and created just a couple of stitches in each color. I asked the dyer about this, and was enlightened to learn about the process she used. She explained that to create longer color runs she would have to have a way to work with the hank either in a much longer format, or have it unwound then rewound into the hanks standard size, to be dyed/painted. Both approaches are more labor intensive and cost prohibitive. Since the yarn is so beautiful though, I think I can find a stitch that will work in complimenting it.

 

Basically, if you find a yarn that you love, be mindful that it may not be the best match for every pattern you find. So do a little of that dreaded word….swatching, and see how the color comes together. It really can help you find some beauty. Your crochet is your therapy, your art, your history, so help your vision come to life, use the yarns you love and work the patterns you enjoy. Do not be limited by want the photo shows or the materials listed, make each crochet moment your own.

 

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Free Garden Flower Head Band

Now if you have any scarps left give my newest free pattern a try! It is a head band, which has an attached flower (worked as you go, no sewing!), so check it out Garden Flower Head Band, and find my self-published designs at Crochetville, Ravelry and Craftsy.

Designs that Will Ring in Spring

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ScannedImageSpring is in the air; the ground is beginning to warm and release the blooms of daffodils. The days are getting longer and spending time outside is a greater joy. So it has made it a nice time to release 2 of my latest designs, they help take a little chill out of the air and dress up a casual look.

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Summer Rays Drop Stitch Wrap

The first is the Summer Rays Drop Stitch Wrap; it is created with a simple 3 row repeat, and 1 skein of Lisa Souza Sylvie 100% Bombyx Silk yarn. The highlight of this wrap is a unique stitch that is created free hand, of long loops, a technique that was originally featured in my article in the Summer 2012 issue of Crochet! Magazine, with the Drop Stitch Short Scarf. I really enjoy this technique as it gives the appearance of hairpin lace without the loom, or the joining of strips. It is worked as one continuous piece, and when you finish, you only have 2 ends to weave in.

This pattern includes the details on how to complete this technique, and I have to say that the silk gives it such a great drape that it adds IMG_6150 - Copyelegance to the work.

What inspired me to put this design together was actually the yarn. I had a skein, and I made it a personal challenge to see what I could create with it, and the Drop Stitch lends itself to this non-stretch yarn very well. The openness of the stitch with the smooth surface of the yarn, allows both to be featured in a positive way with this design, creating a classic style.

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Fiji Flowers on Flowers Shrug/Wrap

The second design I am releasing is the Honorable Mention Winner of the 2013 Crochet Guild of America Design Contest, Accessories category; the Fiji Flowers on Flowers Shrug/Wrap. This is a uniquely constructed piece that is comprised of 3 large pentagon motifs created with Tunisian Crochet. These motifs create a negative space design that is enhanced with additional motifs, thus creating flowers inside of flowers. All motifs are joined as you go, requiring no sewing.

One of the original features of this design is the “floral buttons” these are added embellishments that allow the fabric to be secured together to create air sleeves of a shrug, or left unsecured for an interesting wrap. This versatile piece is also worked in Lisa Souza Sylvie 100% Bombyx Silk yarn, which has beautiful color and gives great drape to this piece. This is a fun shrug that can be paired with jeans or a simple black dress, can be a nice compliment for a day at the beach, or a night on the town. It fills a very unique niche in any wardrobe, and trust me, it is fun.

#My inspiration for this design was born out of a watermark I saw in a magazine advertisement. It was a flower that was actually featured in a negative space (the space that is not the color, but the blank background), and I began daydreaming of how to create this in crochet, thus the large motifs were created. However they lacked structure and did not allow for a stable fabric, until the addition of contrasting motifs within them. This the negative space flower grow to have an addition of flowers within its petals. 

Both of these designs are available for sale on Ravelry.com or Crochetville.com for the simple price of $5. Check them out and let me know what you think of them.

Summer Rays Drop Stitch Wrap (Ravelry – Crochetville)

Fiji Flowers on Flowers Shrug/Wrap (Ravelry – Crochetville)