Issue 2, freeform with sticks and twigs
yarnwork and stickwork, choosing colors for freeform projects
hey everybody,
The past few weeks have been busy, the new year is in full swing. Violin work is off to a good start with a fun concert weekend in Pinehurst, and I’ve got a few freeform projects going, mostly geared towards the Carolina Fiber Fest in Raleigh, NC. The festival is on March 10 and 11, with the classes and workshops running from March 8 - 12. They have sooooo many classes, including mine on the designs shown above and below.
If you’re joining me for either class in March, or a freeform class in your area, here are some ideas about choosing colors and yarns for freeform projects.
As with most things in freeform crochet, there are endless options for yarns and colors. Sometimes it’s fun to use anything and everything and see what happens. You might end up with a blanket, a piece of wall art, or a freeform coat of many colors. Using a wide variety of yarns and following your curiosity is really tremendous fun. But if you know what your project will be, if you have a plan for what you’d like to end up with, you may want to choose your materials with careful attention. Yarn curation can really set you up for success, especially for wearables.
Consider what you’re making as part of the curation process. If it’s a wearable, look to your closet to remind yourself what you wear the most. Do you tend towards bright colors? Versatile neutrals? Bold prints? If you make something that fits in with your ready-to-wear accessory collection, it’s more likely to be worn.
When you’ve figured out what you’d like to make, you can start choosing colors and textures. You can use a color wheel to make all kinds of gorgeous palettes based on color theory, but lots of people are not confident enough in their skills to combine colors, and they think that they do not have an artistic eye for it. Maybe that’s true, maybe it’s not, but there are some tricks that can make you look like a color expert.
One of my favorite palette strategies for wearable accessories is to pick a single color (or two colors side by side on the color wheel) and search my stash for as many shades of that color as I can find. This is an especially approachable strategy if your stash is deep with single skeins and odds and ends of your favorite colors. Adding a neutral makes it even easier to wear.
These scrumbles are shades of red plus neutral black with a couple of neutral greys.
Sometimes I find that a multicolored yarn inspires a color palette. A variegated yarn that you love already has a color palette baked in. If you like the mix of colors in that one yarn, it’s the perfect resource for choosing solid color yarns. Find as many yarns in the stash that match the colors in your inspiration yarn, including yarns that just come close. The idea is to get as many yarns together as possible and winnow them down to your perfect palette later in the process.
All of these solid colors coordinate with some part of the variegated yarn in the knitted section. I ended up having a few variegated yarns that coordinated pretty well, too.
If your stash includes lots of variegated yarns, then a reverse strategy is to choose one particular color, then grab any of your multicolors that have that color in the mix. You’ll probably want to include solid color yarns in your original color plus a few more that coordinate with the variegateds, too. The solid colors will help the multicolor yarns shine by contrast.
The yarns in the freeform panel are both solids and variegateds in shades of the green and teal. It’s hard to tell in this photo, but the teal has a very small strand of bright green, and those little green circles are a perfect match to it.
Mini skein collections or slow color change yarns, like Noro, are great palette builders. These yarns are already curated by talented dyers that know how to put colors together, so it really takes the guesswork out of color choice. If you have enough of these types of yarns for the whole project, you don’t even have to bring in any other yarns, you’re ready to start crocheting.
The freeform section in this wrap was made entirely from a mini skein kit that I purchased on vacation in Juneau, Alaska. The kit has a light grey, so I chose a slightly darker grey for the solid knitted section.
It’s worth mentioning here that it’s a good idea to occasionally include a color you don’t like in the palette. The electric lime green and the pink in the mini skein kit I used for the wrap shown above are not usually colors I choose for myself, and I almost left them out. I even bought a few duplicates of my favorite colors in the kit to substitute in. In the end, though, I decided to trust the dyer and used all of the colors she put together, and it was a good decision. The unloved colors made my usual palette more lively, and this wrap is one of the pieces I wear most often.
Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne of Modern Daily Knitting have a great strategy for choosing colors. Their motto is “Juicy and Blah,” and it’s a good reminder that striking a balance between the rich and the subtle makes for a very effective palette. Click on over to their blog to see some examples of Juicy and Blah.
If you’re willing to use just one type of yarn for your project, try looking at yarns that are used for colorwork designs. The colors for these yarns will be chosen to work together, making them great for freeform projects. Berroco Lanas Light and Pascuali Balayage are good examples, as are many of the Rowan yarns, such as their Alpaca Soft.
If you’re having trouble even starting to choose colors for a project, look to the art world and nature. Inspiration is everywhere. A painting, a mosaic, a quilt, a piece of beautiful fabric, a stained glass window, a garden, a sculpture, or even a pretty piece of gift wrap could all be inspiration for a freeform color palette. Find a yarn that fits with your original inspiration, then use one of the tricks mentioned above to flesh out a palette.
Once you’ve assembled a pile of possible yarns, you can do some editing. Leave the yarns out where you’ll see them during the day and remove the ones that bug you as you notice them. Sometimes one of the colors will stand out because it’s brighter or more muted than the others, or maybe you realize that you’ve put more contrast in there than you really want. Maybe the palette needs a little more Juicy or a little more Blah, who knows! Take time to figure out what you think it needs, but don’t hesitate to go ahead and start scrumbling. Seeing how the yarns behave when they’re worked up can help you decide which yarns make the final cut.
what’s been going on
I stumbled on to a really cool video about making bullion stitches.
Blue Sky Fibers’ gorgeous bundle of all of the Woolstok Worsted colors has me completely charmed.
Here are some ideas for building up your stash for freeform projects.
past projects
Most of my freeform projects in recent years have been accessories that are mostly plain knitting (or crochet) with accents of freeform crochet. This asymmetrical triangle wrap was my first project of this type.
At the beginning, most of my freeform projects were 100% allover freeform. I really loved them, but it seemed like I hardly ever wore them. They were just a bit bolder than my personal style. After I started making these more subdued pieces with freeform as a component or an accent, I knew I’d found my niche.
For the knitted section, I used two shades of dark red and Dawn Barker’s Travelers Shawl pattern. The garter stitch is worked in one row stripes, which mixes the two colors and gives the plain section more texture and depth.
In the freeform section, I used some of my favorites (blues, purples, magentas) and added in dark reds to coordinate with the knitted section.
xp roundup
My ongoing list of XPs (things I want to try out, it’s kind of a shorthand for experiments) gets longer all the time. An XP can be a motif, and stitch pattern, a new design, or something I’ve thought up that needs testing. My favorite recent XP was Joanna Scrace’s crocheted Contour Shawl.
I’m a freeformer who also likes to make other people’s designs because sometimes, it’s really nice to let someone else make the decisions. It’s also a great way to learn different ways to construct shawls, sweaters, and anything else you like to make and wear. I made this swatch in particular to try out the shawl’s stitch pattern, and I really liked it. The shape of the shawl and the stitch pattern work very well together, too. It’s now on my (very lengthy) to-do list.
artist spotlight
The photos of the Freeform Favorite wrap in this newsletter were both taken at the Sandhills Horticultural Gardens in Pinehurst, NC on the Stick Sculpture by artist Patrick Dougherty.
The stickwork pieces are designed by Dougherty, built by the artist and a team of local volunteers, and they last as long as they last.
Dougherty has built sculptures in a wide variety of locations. I’ve included a few of my favorite photos below from his website. Click on over to see more.
something to try
There’s a fun freeform challenge going on in the International Freeform Fiberarts Guild on Ravelry. It incorporates the element of chance, making it a little bit mysterious and very addictive. I’d share photos of my scrumbles thus far, but one of the requirements of the challenge is to keep your work secret until the finish date so that when the results are assembled into an online gallery, everything will be fresh and new. Read all about it here.
a few more things you might like
This book by Debbie Zawolski features travelling through Scotland, camping, wool collecting, sock knitting, sock patterns, and sheep.
Fiber Art Now magazine is a curated showcase of all types of fiber artists and a great source of inspiration for freeform crocheters.
This article outlines an effective way to learn something new.
Thanks for reading,
Lisa
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Oooh - I love that blue cardigan with the freeform panel on back. Might you be able to share the pattern for the cardigan?