Sunday, January 29, 2012

Experiment vs Design

What's the difference between experimenting with crochet and designing?   I've been pondering this question for a while now.  The dictionary gives us these definitions:
Experimenta test, trial, or tentative procedure; an act or operation forthe purpose of discovering something unknown.   
Design: to prepare the preliminary sketch or the plans for (a work tobe executed), especially to plan the form and structure of.
When do you feel you get to say that you are done experimenting and you move to designing a pattern for a crochet piece? I've been working on a purse for myself that I just made up to see if I could.  So I guess  you could say I'm designing a purse?  Well, the structure of the purse is nice and it's a good size.  I used 100% wool and tried to felt it but it's not quite as tight a felting as I would like so I guess I'll make the same purse but in a new yarn.  Do I need to write down the pattern notes and "viola" I'm a designer?  There is a good article written by Helen Free in the February issue of Inside Crochet with great tips on how to use the auto-correct in MS Word to write a pattern.  Have any of you out there designed a pattern?

Now as for experiments... if I only make the 1 purse is that an experiment?  Even if I write down the pattern?  I think the word "experiment" is more appropriate for what I would like to try for the first time.
When it comes to things I want to experiment creating:

  • Cardigan for me
  • Lacey shawl

Materials I want to experiment with:

  • Wire
  • Rope or twine
  • Beads
  • Tule

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The "Other" World of Crochet

I've crocheted for a long time.  My grandmother taught me to chain stitch and oh how I love to make "snakes" with the scraps of yarn she gave me.   She used to make us slippers and the new babies of the family blankets but she mostly worked in thread.  That was my first impression of crochet: slippers, baby blankets and doilies.
GG Bonnie

After I was married, my girlfriends were looking for something to do while the husbands worked or played sports and we decided to have "Super Craft Saturdays".   Sandy taught us all how to crochet and off I went.  Since then I've crocheted afghans, baby blankets, baby sweaters, baby shoes, hats, softies, doilies, a table runner and so on.  I would buy pattern books and occasionally searched online for patterns.
I thought I knew crochet.  :)
This year one of my resolutions was to become more involved in the "craft community".  And since doing so I found Kathryn Vercillo's blog Crochet Concupiscence.  And as I told her today, she has completely opened up a new world of crochet to me!  She has so much information, job postings, yarn reviews, quotes and more!  By far my favorite has to be her weekly crochet artist posts.  Seriously WOW!  This is NOT my grandma's crochet.
I think my favorite so far is Toshiko Horiuchi-MacAdam and her incredible piece called "Rainbow Net".  Kathryn has also spotlighted Magda Sayeg, Sarah Applebaum and many more.  Go and check them out and find yourself into a new world of crochet!
Toshiko Horiuchi-MacAdam's "Rainbow Net"

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Crochet and Football - Oh Yea!

I love to crochet and watch sports; football, hockey, or baseball. I like that I can hear the excitement from the crowd and they give me cues to look up and watch the fun parts. Movies are good background to crochet but sometimes a movie needs more attention. How about you? Where do you like to work? Is it a quiet room by yourself? Are you outside? A passenger traveling? Or are you in your room rockin' out to Lady Gaga?

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

A Little Totoro to Make you Happy

My friend & I have daughters the same age. Last time we had dinner she told me she was interested in spinning yarn but didn't know where to go for help or instruction. "RAVELRY!" I cried! She visited my site and saw Totoro. One of her daughter's loves Miazaki films as much as my daughter and she asked if I would make her one for her birthday. Cute, no?

Sunday, January 1, 2012

New Year - New Calendar

Happy New Year! 2012? Wow, how'd that happen?

A new year holds such promise doesn't it? For me it starts when the new years calendars start to show up in stores. Who am I going to be this year? What do I want to inspire me? Every year I amaze myself with how long that inner struggle takes. Now that I really think about it, the calendar for the New Year is always based in what happened the year before or the goals I want to carry me through the next year.
Last years calendar at work was one from the Alzheimer's association and the one at home was a "Get Fuzzy" cartoon one. My father passed away in March 2010 with Alzheimer's at the young age of 72, I needed that calendar as a reminder of him and what I could do to further the fight of a most terrible disease. The cartoon calendar was for my daughter. She graduated from HS and moved to Oregon to volunteer with AmeriCorp for 1 year before going off to college. Guess I wanted her last year at home to be filled with laughter and love.
This years calendars where purchased without thought but now that I'm filling them with info could really only be described as "spot on!". Here's what I bought:

I am Human and I Crochet

This morning while perusing my FB feed I came across a video from the Craft Yarn Council called "Humans That Yarn".  Not sure abou...