Issue 18, music, Carolina FiberFesting, and 100 days of leafy fun
plus, adapting some embroidery to work into freeform crochet
hey everybody,
In the category of things I already know but have to keep learning over and over again, I’ve rediscovered that listening to music first thing in the morning instead of jumping straight into emails and social media is very good for my state of mind. I am a musician, after all, and you’d think I’d be a habitual listener, but I will sometimes go through periods of time where I’m just not. It’s been very stimulating to listen more, and it's even making me more productive with my freeform projects. Writer and knitter Rachael Herron talked about using music in her book writing process in the first episode of the Craft*ish podcast (the whole interview is interesting, have a listen if you like podcasts). She sets up a specific, original playlist for each book that she writes, and she says that hearing the curated music helps her get into the mode of writing and keeps her focused. Maybe I’ll have to give some thought to creating soundtracks for my projects and find out how it affects my experience.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying the momentum I’ve gained on my Organic Shawl while listening to a wide range of music.
My intention is to mostly finish it before using it as a sample for the March 9 class I’m teaching at the Carolina FiberFest, leaving some sections purposely incomplete. Showing what something looks like in progress is probably as helpful (or more) to students as showing a finished project.
what I love about this
I love to see the freeform work of embroidery artists. If I wasn’t already knee-deep in yarn, I’d give it a whirl myself, but I’m just happy seeing the nifty things that the embroiderers are doing. It’s a bonus that sometimes there’s a detail or a technique that can be adapted to use in knit or crochet.
The embroidery project on the cover of Stitch and Structure by Jean Draper is especially interesting to me. To make it, Draper pinched together a little bit of fabric and used the whip stitch to catch the pinched ridge with various types of threads, resulting in waves of texture. I love the effect and wondered what it would look like in yarn. I knitted up a small piece of fabric and set out to create the waves of texture. Whip stitching the stretchy knitted fabric was a challenge, and I felt a bit clumsy trying to make the curvy lines that I admired in the embroidery sample in Draper’s book without distorting the fabric and making things look awkward and bumpy.
I’m sure practice would help, and perhaps a good blocking, but at some point in the process, I had an idea about how to mimic the whip stitch effect with a different technique. Rather than pinching the fabric to get the surface texture, I tried working some single crochet stitches directly on top of some crocheted spirals, then embroidering around them, essentially wrapping them with complementary yarns.
It really doesn’t resemble Draper’s stitched fabric at all, which is fine, I’m happy for it to be its own thing. Experimenting with various accent yarns for the whip stitching produced a variety of effects. Textured/bumpy yarns were a challenge in whip stitch, but worth the effort. Ribbon yarns looked great because they could be manipulated to spread out flat. Thin yarns could be held together, creating custom combinations. Incorporating a thin gauge shiny yarn added some sparkle without being too flashy. I made the spirals into brooches and backed them with felt for stability.
This technique worked nicely in a few of my 100 spirals project from last year, too.
Whether I’m using the accent yarns to whip around surface single crochets (middle photo) or sections of cording (first and third photos), this embroidery-inspired technique has been a welcome addition to my bag of tricks.
something to try
Speaking of last year's 100 spirals, tomorrow, February 18 is the first day for this year’s 100 Day Project. Are you participating? Last year was my first, and I loved it. Thinking back on how much I learned making all those spirals, I decided to do a similar type of project with leaves this year. My sketchbook is already full of ideas. No doubt these leafy experiments will bring successes, failures, new ideas, and many lessons learned by the end of the project.
If you think you might like to try your own 100 Day Project, click over to the 100DP website for ideas and encouragement.
Here’s my own bit of encouragement: Do the project! People interested in getting into freeform crochet can give themselves a HUGE creative boost by doing a tiny little bit of freeform for 100 days. Without worrying about what you’ll do with the freeform pieces you make, just focus on the action of doing it, creating your own momentum during the 100 days. Start with little circles, then switch to spirals, then work stitches directly into a motif, then join a couple of motifs to start building a scrumble; or do whatever strikes your fancy, just one tiny bit each day. Keeping it small keeps it manageable, and don’t worry if you start late or miss a day (or even a week) here or there. It’s much more important to get started and keep going than it is to have a perfect record of participation. Who's in?
a few more things you might like
Knitters in Canada are helping keep people warm with a practice called scarf bombing, and starting a trend in the process. Many thanks to my friend Christine for sending me the article.
Shameless promotion: if you are indeed interested in doing a 100 Day Project based on getting into freeform crochet as described above in the something to try section, having instructions to refer to makes it easier to get going. Books about freeform are a great resource if you have them, so is my downloadable freeform-ish guide called Freeform Favorite, available for purchase on Ravelry. It’s aimed at freeform beginners who are already comfortable with crochet.
If you need a gift idea, I can vouch for the Chatham Candy Manor chocolates and taffy. I recently received a shipment of chocolates and taffy, and the delicious treats were carefully packed and beautifully presented.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading!
Lisa