Freeform Yarny Things Study Group

Jan 08, 2025

In the fall of 2024, a reader asked me to consider sending email prompts about things to try in freeform. I thought about organizing a short term “freeform-along,” but then I realized that sending prompts could actually be an effective way to teach freeform crochet online. There are occasional “something to try” features in this newsletter, but some readers might enjoy more. I decided to launch the Freeform Yarny Things Study Group, a more instructive and interactive section of the newsletter for readers who opt in.

The Study Group, launching in February 2025, will be a online community of people interested in learning more about doing freeform crochet. If you need a little help getting started or some regular nudges to help you keep going, you might enjoy the Study Group. Participants will get an email from me almost weekly (48 emails a year) with a prompt about a stitch or a technique or another kind of idea about something to incorporate into their freeform work. Some prompts will be simple, with ideas or suggestions. Others will be more involved, with detailed instructions. Many will include ideas for variations and further exploration. By commenting on the email posts, crocheters can discuss their questions with me and chat with their fellow participants.

There are no rules for what to make. You might choose to start a project and incorporate the prompts, or you might prefer to make a series of scrumbles (smallish patches of improvised freeform fabric) for learning purposes as you work your way through the prompts.

There are also no rules about using the prompts. If a prompt doesn’t speak to you, there’s no requirement to follow it as written. Change it, let it inspire some other action, or just skip it entirely. This is freeform, after all, and there’s never a requirement to do things the same way as anyone else. It’s all about getting new ideas, meeting new freeform friends, finding inspiration, and developing your freeform practice in a community of creative stitchers. Once things get underway we'll also be able to have conversations and share photos in Substack’s popular chat feature from time to time (Substack is the host platform for the newsletter).

Study Group emails will be a separate part of the Freeform Yarny Things newsletter, accessible through a paid subscription. The main newsletter has always been, and will always be, free to everyone. Participation in the Study Group, however, will require upgrading to paid status so that I can afford the time to create and manage it. Substack makes it easy to toggle in and out of being a paid subscriber, though, so participants can come and go as they please. Paid subscriptions will be available for $5 a month or $50 annually.

The Freeform Yarny Things Study Group will launch on Wednesday, February 5th. In the meantime, you can preview the first prompt below. If you have any questions, please send me an email.

send me an email

Here's the sneak preview of the first prompt for the Study Group:

Hello Yarny Ones,

For our first prompt, let's start small and see what we can do with simple circles. Using any yarns you like and hooks that are appropriate for their gauges, let’s make a bunch of circles. Use your favorite circle pattern/method if you have one. If not, here's how I like to do them:

Small circle pattern

(Using US terminology)

Choose a yarn and a hook that works for that yarn.
Chain 4 and slip stitch into the furthest chain from the hook to form a small starting ring.
Make 3 chain stitches for the turning chain (this does not mean that you will turn anything, it’s just old terminology).
Work 11-14 double crochets into the center of the small ring. How many should you do? It depends on your yarn and your gauge. To determine when you have enough, slide the stitches close to each other as needed as you work the double crochets. When the double crochet stitch under your hook is right next to the turning chain, you have enough stitches.
Do a simple finish by cutting the yarn leaving a 5 inch tail, then pulling up on the hook until the tail comes out of the top of the double crochet.
Then, try the invisible join on my tutorials page to finish off your circle. As directed in the tutorial, bring the tail back up through the next stitch so that you can use the yarn for seaming the circle to another circle later on.

these three circles have more than 4 stitches in their starting chains

To vary this circle, you can add 1-6 more chains to the starting ring (line 2). If you have time, try making circles with 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 chains in the starting ring, changing yarns or colors each time for a nice variety of circle sizes. Take care to fill these larger rings with enough double crochet stitches, then do a simple finish and invisible join, the same way you did in the original circle.

You can turn some or all of your circles into a scrumble by seaming them together. Small clusters of circles are great scrumble starters!

Other ideas for variations:

-another way to vary the size of your circles is to substitute other stitches for double crochets. A circle of single crochet or half double crochet stitches will be smaller, circles that use treble crochets will be larger. For these variations, the turning chain (line 3) will need to coordinate with the size of stitch you decide to use. With dc stitches, the turning chain is 3, with hdc it is 2, with sc it is 1, with tr it is 4.

-use texture stitches (like puffs, bobbles, and popcorns) alternating with double crochets. The circle on the right in the photo below has puff stitches and half double crochets.

-be open to using the wrong side as the public side, like the circle on the left in the photo below. The wrong side of those double crochet stitches has a very appealing texture.

-what other variations can you think of?