More on FreeForm

I left out the "pattern" part.

number 11. There might be a pattern that I like, and there might be a time when
I follow it, to a tee. (where did that expression come from?)
There are times, however, when a change to a pattern is necessary,
whether it is a major change or a mini change. I have done that sort of thing
more than once or twice.

Sometimes I just look at a pattern and then decide if it's worth working on. If I so decide,
then the process becomes a "follow a pattern" type of thing. Well, there is a little problem right
there, I kind of don't like following patterns. Unless I must (motifs, new methods, new ideas). That is another thing. Patterns are useful and result of designer's inspiration, imagination and most of all, hard work. I give my full sense of respect and admiration for anyone who has accomplished making designs for others to follow.

I am not sure where this blabbering is going for, and If I am honest with myself, this type of blabbering is similar to my working on a free from scrumble. I will start cleverly, and then have no idea where I will stop.

If the above does not make sense, then just think of it this way: Patterns are not really my thing, although I have books, magazines and loose patterns to fill half of my other bedroom, the other half is for yarn. Here we go again, off the subject, ending up in a stash room.

Freeform crochet for me is a freedom from following a pattern.

Now, I want to mark down some pros and cons on a trip to CGOA Chain Link, Knit and Crochet Show in Portland, OR, in September.

Cons: expensive hotel stay

Pros: free flight with Airmiles
Meet friends
Explore the town
travel
find some new ideas
meet friends
meet new friends

I will think of other items, but now back to work.

Why do I love Free Form Crochet?

Sometimes I sit at the table, idle, not knowing what to do, because it's either late at night, or early in the morning. Oh, and on the weekend, when I really feel lazy.

I have yarns, threads, needles, bags, hooks everywhere, but nothing invites me for action. I have a summer sweater on the go, on knitting needles. It looks very inviting, but my fingers just don't want to get in to touching the work.

I am staring at the tencel yarn I bought yesterday at Knitter's Frolic. It's supposed to go with the tencel I had bought at CGOA Chain Link shows. The yarn was for a shawl, original plan! a knitted lace shawl. However, like so many other "I'm going to make"s the shawl never got started. Instead, I tested the yarn with a crochet hook; started with a little circle, which was looking quite interesting. I love variegated yarns, specially when I have no idea how the colors are going to travel.

A scrumble was born, and another, and another. Soon I had a small collection of scrumbles, done with my "shawl" yarn, mixed with some Clea thread. I decided that I needed a solid color to join the scrumbles together. Hence my trip to Knitter's Frolic. Those two cylinder like tubes in the picture of yarn and scrumbles are my finds at the Frolic. I am quite happy with my selection and of course have been crocheting all night and all this morning, until my fingers started rebelling.

why do I love FF Crochet?

1. One small amount of yarn will create stitches

2. Any hook is suitable for any kind of yarn: too big: no problem, the stitch is loopy, but gives

a touch of lightness; too small: no problem, gives a nice solid texture

3. too many stitches? skip one, skip two, and get a new design, after all, where is the pattern>

4. cupping? make a little mountain, or a dome, crochet around, and make a design out of the

cup

5. curling? make a frilly part in your scrumble to give some excitement and continue with

flat part, or skip to another section.

6. change yarn as you wish

7. change stitch as you wish

8. perhaps a knitting needle would create a different stitch, and some rows of knitting

might give some new ideas, too

9. Yarns, cotton, wool, acrylic, silk, bamboo, fabric strips, ribbon, is there any end?

10. Time flies, when I am scrumbling.

There must be other reasons, but right now I want to get back to my scrumbling. Feel free to add to my list.

Found the Sweater Pattern

The other day I got excited about "finding the magazine in e-Bay" well, it was not the right one. I have that one, and my sweater pattern wasn't there. Instead, it's in March, 1998 issue. I knew it was a long time ago, hmph.

Here are the pictures, of the magazine and the original sweater

Now I can relax and continue my yellow thing. It's not going to be like the blue and white one, the sleeves are not going to be as long.

It's time to start sorting papers for tax returns. Always something to spoil the beautiful day, isn't there? Oh, well, once I'm done with those papers, then I can work on my freeform challenge piece.

What's on the menu?

It's been ten days shy of a month, since I posted last time. Those days have slipped thru the piles of paper I had on my desk for the past couple of weeks. It was the time for our year-end procedures.


In one of the cyber groups someone posted a link to a bracelet purse, and of course I had to make a few. These are the first three. I made three more after those, but no picture, but I am sure you get the picture. The purse was designed by Pam Gillette at Knotty Generation



Did I manage to create anything else? Not really. I was accompanied by a nasty syndrome called startitis. One of the bugs is this yellow thing, which is supposed to come out of its cocoon and fly off as a beautiful summer top. My fear is that before that happens, the stitches might fly off the needle and go back to the original form, as in skeins of Patons Grace.


This pattern appeared on a Sandra magazine a few years ago. I had made this in white with navy blue stripes, equally a few years ago... Somehow I managed to fade the blue after washing the sweater many times, so it's started to look old. However, I really like the pattern, so that is why I am going to make another one. Getting the pattern from my sweater has been somewhat challenging, but I have done it. I am keeping the old sweater nearby, just to check what is the next step. Did I mention that I cannot find that magazine?, I can find all the other ones, of course.

Talk about spooky events. I went to google for the magazine, just to show any picture. Guess what, I clicked on the e-Bay one and the sweater is in February 2002 magazine. The one that is showing here. At least I know now, where the pattern is. What a lucky find!


On April 1st I went to Stephanie's new book launch and bought a signed copy of her new book. It was a fun night, except my camera didn't like the darkness in the theatre, and failed to take good pictures. I need a new camera, oh, please.


I have read the introduction. Unfortunately my time has been mostly spent on knitting my yellow thing, instead of reading about knitting.

I could swear I was knitting a shawl at the book launch, but not sure.