Yarn Over, Pull Through

Lion Brand Publishes My Freeform Purse Pattern

I was floored and amazed to find out a couple of weeks ago that a freeform purse I'd designed for Lion Brand back in 2006 has been published.   Floored and amazed because, after I'd submitted the pattern, I searched and searched for it in LB's free pattern catalogue, but never found it.  So I just kinda forgot about it until someone in my freeform Yahoo group posted a link to the pattern.

The pattern is called Outside the Lines Purse (Pattern # 60304AD - you have to register to use the pattern finder).  How did I get to design a pattern for Lion Brand?  I have to thank my blog for that.  Someone from the company saw some of the freeform work I've done in one of my blog's photo albums.  Also, at the time, I was writing a lot about Lion Brand's Homespun yarn that I was using a lot to make Christmas throws.  So perhaps that attracted her attention as well.

In any event, I really struggled to create a freeform piece that not only looked nice, but was relatively easy to make.  The purse is made up of four motifs - a flower, a leaf, a spiral and a mitered square.  You make 3 of each motif, using LB's Woolease, Homespun, and Microspun yarns.  The four unique motifs are then sewn together to make one big motif.  You then make three of these big motifs and sew them together to create the purse body.

The purse gets its name from the fact that you follow the outline of the motifs when sewing up the sides of the purse, resulting in an irregularly shaped body.  It's good for carrying a little Ipod or cell phone.  Designing it was definitely a learning experience.  I made a few mistakes here and there, but, in the end, it turned out well.

By the way, Lion Brand recently announced that they have made ALL of their patterns available for FREE.  That's 2,713 crochet, knitting, and "yarn craft" patterns. It's a great place to find some really nice patterns.

Four Seasons - 2009 Freeform Challenge

Hot of that press, it's finally here - the International Freeform Fiberarts Guild's latest challenge in book form, called Four Seasons.

52 freeform artists, including yours truly, participated in this challenge to use freeform fiberart to interpret the 4 seasons.  Myra Wood did an excellent job in putting the book together.  All the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to the Global Fund for Women.

You can preview the book to see a sample of the wonderful artwork.  You can also see the entire exhibit online.  Enjoy!!

How I Made the "Rainy Season" Purse

As promised, I'm going to describe how I made the "rainy season" purse which appears in the 2009 International Freeform Fiberarts online exhibit.

Yarn Selection

Of course, you can't do freeform without the right yarn, and I knew I wanted a variety of yarns in this one (as opposed to the "summer" purse that is made from one yarn only).  And like most fiber artists, I have a pretty big yarn stash, so that was the first place I looked. 

I knew I wanted shades of gray along with green to represent the Ko'olau Mountains, my inspiration for the purse, during the rainy season.  Most of the yarns were in my stash, but I bought a skein of fluffy "Baby Alpaca Brush" by Plymouth Yarns to represent the clouds which are almost always enveloping the mountain peaks. 

Interestingly enough, I ended up not using the yarn I bought and several others, which often happens in these freeform projects.  You have an ideal of how you want the piece to look, but it often turns out looking a lot different than your initial conception.  But as long as I like the end result, I don't mind.

Scrumbling

The next step was to start making the small pieces that I would eventually sew together to form the flap.  This isn't technically scrumbling, but more "organic patchwork," a term coined by celebrated freeform crochet fiber artist, James Walters (see the "scrumbling" link). 

Using this technique, I created a number of small pieces, selecting stitches based on the yarn I was using.  If the yarn was smooth, I created textured stitches like the bullion stitch (that's the dark green stitch at the bottom of the purse flap).  If the yarn was more textured, I made simple shapes, like circles and squares, letting the yarn speak for itself.

It's always good to have a good stitch dictionary like the Harmony Guides (out of print unfortunately) or The Crochet Stitch Bible so you're not racking your brain trying to figure out which stitches to use.

Putting the Pieces Together

Once I had what I thought was enough small pieces from which to create a purse flap, I laid them all out (see previous photo) and started playing with them, trying to create a pleasing configuration.  But try as I might, I just couldn't get all the pieces to fit together in a way that "felt right." So I let it go for a day or two. 

When I tried again, I realized I didn't need to use all the pieces.  If a took a way a couple of them, I came up with a design that I really liked. 

The next challenge was to sew the individual pieces together.  I usually pick up what look like the two easiest pieces to join and sew them together using either a mattress stitch or an overcast stitch.  I didn't do it on this purse, but sometimes I will use a shiny yarn to sew some pieces together and let that be another element of the design.

Creating the Purse Body

Once the flap was done, I crocheted a simple body using a smooth, dark gray yarn, in a single crochet  stitch, making sure the body was wide enough for the flap to rest on.  Then I sewed the flap to the purse body, then sewed the purse's side seams together, using the overcast stitch, right sides facing.  Then I turned the purse inside out so the right sides were on the outside. 

I plan to line the purse eventually.  I even created a template or pattern for the lining by outlining the body and flap of the purse on taped together printer paper, then adding a seam allowance of about 1/2 inch all the way around the template. 

I've tried sewing a lining onto the body of a purse before I sewed its side seams together.  I didn't like the effect it created, so I will probably create the lining first, sewing the side seams together, folding the flap seam allowance under, then hand stitching the whole thing onto the finished purse.  The purse body has to be inside out to do it this way, then turned right sides out after the lining is in.  But, before I do that, I'll also probably add some interfacing to the flap strengthen it.

Hope all that made sense.  Let me know if you have questions.

Yes, I have been crocheting, but ....

... not writing much about it these days (those YouTube videos sure are handy when you're in a writing slump).

New Freeform Online Exhibit

But I had to come out of writer hibernation to let you know that the International Freeform Fiberarts Guild has a new online show featuring the work of many of its members, including yours truly!          

The theme this year is "Four Seasons."  We were asked to create pieces using any kind of fiber art to represent the four seasons.  Some artists did a piece for each season; others concentrated on one season; still others did two or more.  Since Hawaii only has two seasons, I chose to do two small handbags representing the rainy season and summer.

I'm really pleased with the gray and green rainy season purse, probably because I used a variety of yarns in the flap.  The summer purse is ok, and I debated whether I should make another one, but just didn't get around to doing it. 

In any event, please check out the exhibit to see all of the wonderful creations.

A Confession

Ok, let me get this off my chest.  I have mostly been knitting for the past few months.  I have mentioned in several posts that I am working on the Barbara Walker (nope, no relation) Learn-to-Knit Afghan, thinking it would help me learn a few more knitting skills for the few times that I pick up the needles.  And I have to say, I've learned a lot and am now not quite so intimidated by the intricate patterns I see in all those knitting mags.

Then I decided  it would be a gift for an upcoming celebration (don't want to say too much until it's sent) and realized I'd better get cracking and finish it.  So I am down to the last three of 63 blocks after which I will put a crochet border around all of them, sew the blocks together, crochet a border around the whole thing, machine wash and dry it (ain't acrylic great!!), and then send it off.  Once I do, I'll post photos of the completed afghan.

Until Next Time ...

Next post, I'll talk about how I created the rainy season purse.

Prudence Mapstone's "A Scrumble A Week" Blog

For you freeform fiber arts enthusiasts, I just learned of a new blog by Master Freeformer, Prudence Mapstone of Australia.  She has decided to create a scrumble for each week of 2009.  They are absolutely beautiful and inspiring.  She includes information about how she is making them, so the site is instructional as well.  Please click the LINK to see what I mean.  And be sure to click on each image which gives you a full-screen view of all the intricate details!

Coral, Crochet and Hyperbolic Geometry

I seem to be in a video frame of mind these days.  Not writing very much about crochet.  But I do want to keep posting on a somewhat regular basis.

So here's another great video that I came across on the international freeform fiber crochet forum (thanks, Pirk! about science writer Margaret Wertheim's crochet coral reef project.  I put it in the "freeform" category since the crocheted coral reefs use many freeform techniques in their creation.  Enjoy!  (Sorry that some of the screen is cut off; only way to fit it on the blog).

The Pink Project

I wanted to tell everyone about a wonderful project that is being spearheaded by Prudence Mapstone, Australian freeform fiber artist extraordinaire.  It's called The Pink Project.  The inspiration came to Prudence as a result of having participated in the International Freeform Crochet Guild's Coat of Many Scrumbles in which members from around the world sent freeform "scrumbles" to Prudence who then created a magnificent coat, shawl and umbrella.  The articles were exhibited at the 2005 (I think) Crochet Guild of America Knit and Crochet Show.

The goal of The Pink Project is for members to create "pink" scrumbles" which Prudence has volunteered (with some help) to assemble into handbags, scarves, cushions, etc.  Over 200 members participated in creating the most incredible scrumbles you've ever seen. 

First round bidding has already begun.  The highest starting price will be posted next to each item on Wednesday, March 4, 2009.  Then bidding will commence in earnest and will run until midnight, Australian Eastern Standard time on Monday, March 9, 2009.  100% of the proceeds will go to breast cancer research.

Please take some time to check them out at The Pink Project auction blog.  And if you see something you like, consider bidding on it.  I've already placed a bid on an incredible book cover that I hope I win. 

Purple and Yellow Freeform Crocheted Purse

Here's a freeform project that I started a month or so ago.  There's some interesting history to this project.

I was contacted by a yarn company that shall remain nameless to create a freeform purse for use in their online, free pattern catalogue.  This was back in 2006, I think.  The contact had seen my blog, and at the time I was using a lot of their yarn to create lapghans for Christmas.  So this may be why this person contacted me.

Long story short, I created the purse and signed it over in exchange for a nice payment.  However, I don't believe they ever published the pattern.  Or at least I've never seen it and was never notified that it had been published.

So I decided to create a purse using parts of the pattern (the four little motifs that are sewn together to create a larger motif) to create another purse design so I don't infringe on copyright since I sold the original pattern to this company.

I sewed the motifs together according to the pattern to produce a larger  motif.  I did this two more times for a total of three large motifs.  Here's where I changed the pattern.  I sewed those three larger motifs together in a different way to create the purse.  Except, the final larger piece was not an exact square.  So I had to add rows on both sides to finally get a piece of fabric that was more or less square.  Then I sewed up the sides, leaving some extra unsewn for a flap.

You'll have to forgive the quality of the first two photos.  I think I was experimenting with light, and as you can see, the experiment didn't turn out that well.  And I forgot to take photos of the square fabric so you could see what that looked like before I sewed the sides together.

This is the result.  I think it came out pretty good if I must say so myself.  The first photo is the front of the purse.  The second is the back, and the third is the back with the flap extended.  It's kind of hard to tell otherwise.  But you can see where I added rows in the photos of the purse back.   I used Cascade 220 yarn which means I will be felting this.  I'm really excited to see how it will turn out.  As soon as I do, I'll post photos.  I'm also going to try my hand at lining it.  Hope it works better than my last two efforts.  This purse looks nothing like the one I sold, so I consider it a unique, one-of-a-kind original.

These little purses are fun to do and a great way to use up scrap yarn, of which I have a lot, thanks to Babette.  So I will definitely be making more.

"Through Our Eyes" - New International Freeform Fiber Guild Project

I can FINALLY post about my participation in the International Freeform Fiber Guild's latest project, "Through Our Eyes:  35 Freeform Artists Express Their View of Life Through Yarn."

I missed out on participating in two previous projects which you can see at the website.  But I was able to participate in the first project called, "60-Odd:  A Freeform Fiber Odyssey."  Then I was a "newbie" to freeform crochet and very anxious about creating a freeform piece.  But I finally did, though it didn't turn out the way I had anticipated.  That's the thing about freeform; you think you know what you want to do and how it's going to look, but often the end result is surprisingly and delightfully different.

This year's project was much easier to complete.  I actually did it in a week.  And it was fun, too.  Guess I'm a little more confident now.  I call it "Purple Rain" because of the colors I used and as an "homage" to Prince (of whom I was a BIG fan in the '90s).  I thought I might use the piece as a purse flap.  Still might do that.  I'll crochet and felt a purse body, then add the freeform piece, and finally line it. (Don't hold your breath waiting; I have so many WIPs I sometimes can't think straight).

Myra Wood, who put the online exhibit together and who is an incredible artist in her own right, has also created a book on Blurb.com of all the pieces.  One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to Women for Women International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping "women in war-torn regions rebuild their lives by providing financial and emotional support, job skills training, rights awareness and leadership education and access to business skills, capital and markets."

So please take some time to check out the exhibit and consider purchasing the book.  You'll own an excellent, gallery-quality exhibit of freeform fiber art in all its glory, and at the same time, support a worthy cause.

"Swatchghan"

I have categorized this post under "Freeform Crochet" even thouugh I hadn't set out to do a freeform project when I decided to try this.  We all have tons and tons of swatches that we've made before beginning a crochet project, right?  What to do with all those pieces?  I decided to see if I could create an afghan out of them.  The resulting piece turned out better than I'd thought it would.  It's not the size of an afghan, more a lapghan, which I plan to donate to the charity that my crochet guild has selected to donate lapghans to this year.

I had to create several new pieces so the lapghan would be more or less square, as well as add a border.  I also made sure that all of my swatches were more or less worsted weight and machine washable so the fabric would be consistent in weight throughout and the afghan machine washable.

One thing I'd do differently the next time I try this is, instead of sewing together like-colored pieces (see the light green blocks and the dark green scrumbles?), I'd intersperse them throughout the design.

Another thing I'd do differently is create a template before I'm 3/4's of the way through the project.  I taped together 9" x 12" pieces of newsprint (bought at the craft store) into a 36" x 36'" square to help me get the growing piece into a square shape.  It was a big help, but I'd make one at the beginning of the project next time so that I have a template to lay the pieces on to experiement with placement.

As for the color palette, you can see that there are a lot of colors that seem not to match.  I tried to disperse those colors throughout the piece and then add border colors to pick up those disparate hues.  But I ran out of some of the yarns and could only add the border colors that I had on hand, and  I didn't want to buy new yarn since I have so much in my yarn stash to begin with.

The thing about freeform is that you never know what you're going to end up with.  And that was certainly true with this project.   Let me know what you think.