Crochet! Magazine Summer 2013- photo thanks of Annie’s

Amazing how time can come and go so fast. It seems like only last month that I was writing up my article on the Tentacle stitch that is featured in the current issue of Crochet! Magazine.

I know the name might sound funny, but to me it was reminiscent of an octopus arm reaching out to the rows not yet created. Some might

Tentacle Stitch Spa Cloths, photo courtesy of Annie’s

wonder how I ever can up with this idea, well ideas come in the most unusual ways. This one came to me while looking at the color patterns on cow hides ( okay, I am a country girl), nature very rarely has color in straight lines, they often curve and bend, and I was envisioning ways that I could create these bends, and thus the tentacle stitch was created, you never know what you find when you play. By working the color over rows already created, like in Mosaic crochet styles I didn’t like the thickness, and working in same rows color change like intarsia or tapestry crochet I didn’t feel free enough to play since I had to plan the stitches by grid, so by free-forming I came up with this technique (and had some fun with it too).

Sideways Skirt, photo courtesy of Annie’s

In this issue I also have a Sideways Skirt. This skirt looks straight forward, until you realized that is worked entirely on the diagonal. The reason for this….I really liked the way it fit. When looking at construction I have began to wonder why are all the seams for everything in the same places? Crochet lends itself well to designs that do not need to be seamed or at least only minimally. I felt that placing seams on the sides of this skirt would cause it not to drape as softly over the hip (nothing like an addition of a seam allowance to cause a pucker that makes my hips look bigger then they are), I like a nice smooth feel when I where a skirt, it feels womanly to me. So I designed this skirt completely on the diagonal so that the one seam runs across the body and blends in better. Also the shaping is done by changing hook sizes ( I know it can seem a little tedious to change hook sizes in a row, but it allows for a smaller waist and a flared hem, with very little effort).

Anyway, there are some thoughts on the latest designs I have out in the world, and I hope you are inspired to play a little too.