FreeForm Vest: Homes and Healing

I've been very productive, a surge of creativity sparked by the daily make and learn that was National Crochet Month this year.  The triptych and its oddments called out for more, and I've been compelled and impelled to oblige, sometimes foregoing sleep to work out an idea.

The slo burn was to create a "quick" freeform piece comprised of  my newly evolved
motifs: houses, wings and a return to flat dolls. I had several motifs already in the deliciously cream with  undertones of butter, Cloud. I knew I wanted to make my take on the Russian leaves,  and leaf-making approach -- mainly the ones that aren't like anything I've ever seen, not even Irish Crochet, those are in one of my favorite Elann colors 1477-- a subdued yellow green. Then, for dark there is the evocative Fairytale, a sort of burgundy meets pink, red grape meets raspberry, luscious. And I wanted a yellow. So here's where i pause.

I didn't want to place an order and needed just one skein of a light yellow. Honey
in Knit Picks merino looked just right on the screen. So i bought it from a Raveler.
When it arrived it was much more intense a yellow that on screen, but i pushed ahead and made motifs in.

Suddenly the balance of the narrative was off. Yes, yes, I wanted yellow, but this one
white it worked fine with the cream and the green, it undid the pinks and raspberrys.

And I came to the hard decision to not use it.

Removing all the place the shapes filled, hurt.  But the glowing, Crayola pile
of  these nearly school bus-colored bits, assured me that  it was only the commitment to push my color boundaries that made me include it.

If it were for art, I would have left them in, but  I knew they would burn and itch
and annoy me over time... I don't know why but they just didn't fit.

So now my quick project will take longer than I hoped.  Yet,
I'm learning as I go -- and the project gave me several new patterns
that I'll discuss in greater detail in another post: houses, wings, new leaves, flat dolls.

March is National Crochet Month

March is National Crochet Month and I've been crocheting daily, creating dialy and  sometimes, multiple times a day, with hook and fiber. I' hard at work on to projects -- one  has become three--  so there are four separate pieces growing around me.

 Through participating in the National Crochet Month Freeform Crochet Along (CAL) I've had daily prompts and I've responded to them, tried to fulfill them or amended them. It's been exhilarating to  take this journey with people from all around the world, and to share responses and creations, one scrumble or motif at a time.

It's been wonderful to wake up and see one of them grow. This happened a couple of days ago as the  assemblage outgrew the lunch try it had been inhabiting. I found a curtain, strung a dowel through it and hoisted it across my bedroom book case.
If i were able to stand, I would have hung it higher.

This let me know that the parts I think of as the beginning and the end -- or the left and the right, had no room for the middle. And I've reconceptualized it as a  triptych.

I find I've been too curmudgeonly -- everything I've resisted doing has had the greatest yield in an object, addition  or learning.

Like hairpin lace. Here are my riffs on hairpin. First time I've touched the loom in a year, since I made some for my teacher's certificate.

Then there's the incredible  wealth of inspiration from Duplet magazine. I made what turned out to be a huge leaf from there. So I designed a smaller one, larger than the tiny ones, but smaller than the big one. It took three tries, but now I have  new pattern that I know I will use again and again.

Here are some other recent ( this week) scrumbles and motifs.

And here they are in place

The beginning and the end -- in progress

The middle in progress

It's wonderful to have a shared journey. The IFFC piece is required to be kept secret, as are the 20 designs I have out in world, seeking acceptance.  The FreeForm
CAL 2012 has been liberating!

Petal Leaf Collar and Cuffs

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/petal-leaf-collar-and-cuffs
Leaf, Flame, Petal, is what this stitch evokes for me.
These are fast and lovely projects, a bit yarn intensive, but their sculptural effect is well worth it.

Jewelry meets warmth in this neck adornment.
Leaves cluster and frame your neck.
This pattern is adaptable and offers options
for reconfiguration as well as matching cuffs.

I created and tested this last year and spent the year sending the set to yarn companies and publishers. While it didn't seem to fit their requirements, it
still thrills me. So I've self published this on my Ravelry site.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/petal-leaf-collar-and-cuffs

Tools and Materials
I/ 5.5 Crochet hook, Yarn needle
G/4.5 mm for button optional
2.5 - 3 oz /70.9 - 80g worsted weight yarn
(0.5 oz/14.2 g for cuffs)
Pattern Level: Intermediate
20 - 23” L x 3- 4.5” T
50.8 cm- 58.4cm x 7.6cm- 11.4cm
Cuffs 10-12”L x 2-3”T
25.4cm -30.5cm x 5 - 7.6 cm
Gauge: (ww) 7 rows/11dc = 4”/10.2cm

Leaves, Flowers

OOO! Soooo busy that I feared talking about what I was doing would replace doing it.
So first let me chat about leaves. I hope to entice more people to buy my wonderful leaf patterns, especially as
crocheting seems generally leaf challenged, when the manufacturers of yarn post the yechiest free patterns
of mishapen bloboids and people praise them!

But yes, since it's free, I guess it's good== it sure helped me refine and define my leaf esthetic, although to be sure, seeing more refined, and easy options presented for knitters, made me want to add my two centimes to the conversation, so to speak.

Anyway, those who sell the most patterns seem to sell objects more than motifs. I'm a motif maven, myself and
I guess that why I'm drawn to freeform. big hunks of repetition bore me, but if I develop a leaf hat pattern or a
scarflette/neckwarmer, that may attract more folks to my leaves.

Anyway, I've made several necklaces and a leaf lariat for sale. Hopefully, someone will find these compelling and purchase them.

Akua's Maple Leaf Pattern #3

After working on two maple leaf patterns to sell with my new leaf pattern collection,
I worked on one to share here.
This is all sc and is smaller than the other ones, which is wonderful for appliqués and lariats.

Akua’s Maple Leaf #3 ( all sc)

Make adjustable ring
1. 5 sc in ring, ch1, turn: 5sc
2. sc in first 2 sc, 3 sc in next, sc, sc, turn: 7 sc
3. ch 1, 2 sc in first , sc in next 2, 3 sc in next, sc in next 2, 2 sc in last, ch1, turn: 11 sc
4. first lobe: skip first sc, sc in next 2, 2 sc in next, ch1, turn: 4 sc
5. sc in 4 sc, ch1, turn
6. skip first sc, sc, skip next sc, sc in last sc, slip st down side to base:2 sc
7. middle lobe: sc, 3 sc in next sc, sc, ch 1, turn: 5 sc
8. sc across, ch1 turn: 5 sc
9. skip first sc, sc in next 2,skip sc, sc in next sc, ch1 turn:3 sc
10. skip first sc, sc in next 2, ch1, turn: 2sc
11. skip first sc, sc in next, ch1, slst, slip stitch along side to base
12. side lobe: sc in next 2 sc, 2 sc in next sc, ( leaving end sc alone) ch 1, turn: 4 sc
13. repeat 5
14. skip first sc, sc, skip next sc, sc in last, ch1 turn: 2sc
15. sc2 tog, ch1, slip stitch in top
16. slip stitch , ch 1 at leaf margin points, slipstitch to center. Make chain for stem
or sl st to other side and fasten off

Variation: This is deliberately, asymmetrical. If you prefer more symmetry-- and sometimes i do-- depends on the yarn-- read pattern and work the first lobe, the same as the last: for row 6 six :skip first sc, sc, skip next sc, sc in last sc, ch1 turn, then sc2tog, ch 1, sl st in top, sl st to base


The image shows stem (petiole) #4.
Stem #4: ch2, sc in first ch, ch1, turn sc,* ch1, turn sc,8 repeat for desire length