Reconstruction

 

While I was updating Ravelry today, I remembered I hadn't shown you how this lace crochet sample dyed up last week. This project goes back a bit, to the end of last year in fact where I was deconstructing a lace pattern I liked that had no instructions to follow so I thought I'd have a go at writing one out for myself. The aim was to design and make my own lace crochet parasol inspired by these images here,  here and here.

I'm quite comfortable with crochet and the general construction of stitches but I've had less experience with the more complex crochet lace designs. So last year, I was sampling a few out and getting the hang of how pieces increased in the round and how to build the complexity of structure and pattern into a design. There are some amazing patterns out there that are dismissed because they look too 'doily'- like, but I've learned a lot from my doilies! 

Working out the lace pattern design

I learned how to increase evenly around the circumference, and that the tension is sooo important. If you mess this up then your whole pattern can go out of shape, even with strenuous blocking and pulling back into shape when it's wet at the end. I also got the feel of when that was happening before I got to the end which helped a lot!! There was a lot of crocheting and ripping back as I went so this little sample has had a time of it:) 

But once I understood how to make an increasing circle regardless of the complexity of the stitches, I could then become more free with the pattern. As I was following an existing piece rather than designing from scratch, it was quite easy to place the pattern elements into each portion of the circle. This sample uses a filet stitch and chained threads so it is easy to see how it grows as you crochet.

I originally decided to use a silk/wool undyed yarn instead of cotton as I wanted a softer edge to the design. I'm not convinced that this is the best yarn for the job but the sample certainly does have a 'soft focus' look to it! It handled the wear and tear of sampling well but it you can see the slight wool content giving it fuzzy halo - slightly.

Saying that, it isn't as noticeable now it's been dyed. Being mostly silk it has taken the acid dyes well but not as intensely as the sock yarns. The dyeing was another tester to see how well the colour took and how easy it would be to hand paint a pre-crocheted sample. Very easy! In fact it absorbed the dye quicker than the wool and the colours bled into each other for quite a ways. Less is more in this case!

So it's answered the question of  'do I dye the yarn and crochet, or crochet then dye?' Crochet then dye!! As much as I love dyeing yarns, I can get much more control over the colour gradations this way and as the circle gets bigger and bigger, the colour proportions would stay the same width. A pre-dyed yarn of equal colour blocks - like a graduating yarn - would make smaller and smaller bands the wider it got. Not what I want myself but cool if that's the look you're going for:)

Well, that's the testing all done. So am I ready to design and make that parasol? :)

Crochet lace scarves

Goodness, hasn't January just flown by? I'd best get blogging again - can't have last year's post sitting at the top this long! So how have you all been? The creative ideas flowing for 2012? I have had lots of experimental ideas going on but nothing actually finished as yet to show you. I'll take some progress pics as soon as the rain stops and the light is better so you can have a peek:) But I can show you a few crochet lace scarves that were being finished off for presents that had to remain under wraps then.

In all, I'm on my fourth one of these - yes, that pattern is addictive!!  - and they are perfect as a tv project now I know the pattern. The stitch is one I found in a chinese stitch pattern book so just a diagram to work from but crochet symbols are universal so it's all good. I liked the openness of the fan construction and how it gave a lacy, delicate feel despite being 4ply or Dk weight yarn. I haven't tried a very thin fingering or lace weight with this yet - could be very interesting to see how that turns out. Light gossamer feel I think, but the pattern may be too uniform and repetitive on that finer scale. Worth a try though, don't you think?

This version uses Debbie Bliss silk and gives such a beautiful sheen and handle. Gorgeous and soft as a scarf too. I'm on my second silk version right now using the powder blue colourway - very yummy to work with. Shame it's an expensive yarn option! The green version above is a DK acrylic that's very soft to the touch. It crocheted up very quickly and made a slightly bulkier and snug scarf. Loving the 'appliness' of that green:) Is that a word?? :) Anyways, you know what I mean!

A little close up of the fan pattern for you. I haven't got any photos of the scarves on as yet to show you the length etc but they are little wrap around the neck ones which you can tuck into your jacket or pin with a brooch. I did consider permanent button fastenings but the scarf draped too much to make them stay in place nicely so I abandoned that idea pretty quickly. Would work well with a good strong cable wrap pattern though..... more ideas;)

So that's all the christmas stragglers done and dusted so now I can start off  this year with new work and ideas that are on the go right now. Fingers crossed for decent light for photos tomorrow - a little experimentation and playing going on:))

Till then, 

elaine x


 

lace inspiration

Lace parasol  - created by Lenta

I've been browsing a lot online this week and keep getting drawn to the gorgeous lace designs that are out out there right now. So I thought I'd share a few inspiring projects with you that have taken my fancy. First, this beautiful parasol on Ravelry - I love how it uses such a simple motif to achieve such complexity in the overall design. And, of course, it makes me want to try and deconstruct the pattern so I can gauge the tension and construction elements to create a new design of my own.

You may remember I attempted something like this not so long ago and after several attempts of working out the tension for the filet, clusters and shell sts, it got abandoned and now sits languishing in a corner. But now I'm fired up again and ready to have some hooky fun. I think I should have used the proper crochet cotton  as the sock yarn gave it a fuzzy look, not crisp and clean like I wanted so I'll have to rummage and see what I have to get started. Anyway, it will probably take me a little while to work out the pattern construction, which gives me plenty of time to get some cotton and do a bit of creative dyeing too. Yay!

Spanish peacock shawl -  by MandaKR

The other beautiful design I found was this fine 2ply lace shawl  - just wow! The actual pattern is designed by the amazing Meg Swanson called Spanish Peacock Shawl and this version is just stunning. I've always appreciated these circular shawls but haven't been tempted to make one till now. But I should really be thinking about making presents for that major event at the end of the year - don't want to mention xmas quite yet:) Not when I'm still hoping for a little late summer, lol! Still, this has jumped pretty much to the top of my to-do list. 

Now, let's work out that crochet lace - chains, clusters and most importantly tension:) see you all soon, hopefully with a little more regularity than the rest of this month!

A happy, creative day to you all! 

elaine x

Autumn leaves

December does seem to be a month of sporadic blogging in between the knitting for christmas! So this is the reason everything has been rather quiet around here - the autumn leaves lace wrap. It's the rectangular modified version of the gail/nightsong triangular shawl called spring leaves, (ravelry link),  but as I was using burnt orangey browns, I had to call it autumn instead:)

It has been a real joy to knit up as the directions are very simple and easy to follow, and watching the leaf motifs appear as you knit is amazing. Nothing like lace knitting to make you feel more accomplished :)) The only thing to be aware of with this pattern is that it's knitted from the centre out so you can have directional leaves, clever! BUT don't be put off by this as you don't have to think about grafting lace at all.  No, it's all cleverly done with a provisional cast on and then picking up those stitches for the second half. You also get a lovely diamond motif where they meet and no sign of a join. Such a well considered aspect of this shawl.

When I realised this was knitted in two halves, I thought, aha! I have the perfect yarn all ready and waiting to be knitted. A sock blank, cedarwood, that I dyed last year has been sitting wound into 2x50gm balls, waiting to be made into socks. As I've moved away from socks somewhat, having two balls exactly the same for this shawl was perfect as I wouldn't have to worry about weighing the ball as I go;))

I managed to get 6 pattern repeats and the edging pattern each side from my 100gms (approx 400mtrs) but I did use a lifeline this time just in case I ran out before the chart finished. I do learn my lessons! The yarn is fingering weight and it was knitted on 4.5mm needles.

It was much more difficult to watch tv knitting this one. I tended to make mistakes when I lost concentration! so it was kind of knitted watching Terry Pratchett's Hogfather;

Miss marple's 'Body in the Library'- not her body but you know what I mean;) - from this lovely box set I got for my birthday:

And A christmas Carol - the 1999 version with Patrick Stewart - as it's so very nearly christmas now!!:

It's feeling a lot more like Christmas now.... only two more sleeps to go...... 

Deconstruction.......

I've been exploring the world of crochet lace a lot recently, looking at their structure to learn how the complex patterns are actually constructed. It has a rhythm, a balance to its composition which is innately satisfying to me and somehow, don't ask me how yet, I want to translate the essence of this into my work.

I like how the negative space is just as important as the lace pattern  - an equal integral part, yin and yang. Not that I'm going to launch soley into doily making but it's an interesting challenge to take something so obviously traditional visually and translate it into an unexpected contemporary outcome. Just thoughts, no final fixed idea in mind as yet:)

Deconstructing the pattern from photos also made my obsessive, perfectionist side very happy! Everything in its place, logically perfect and exact. To be honest, just drawing the pattern out was becoming a work of art in itself and I had to remind myself that a working diagram was the original intention and my time would actually be better spent crocheting!!

So the yarn has been chosen - a nice silk/wool mix this time instead of the sharp contrasts of mercerised cotton - and I am ready to go. I have had a little trial run to work out the tension of the pattern as this is the one thing that I can't judge perfectly as yet with crochet lace, and it seems good to go if I move down a needle size or two. This could be an unmitigated disaster:)) but hey, you have to start somewhere! So fingers crossed and off I go.......

Pineapple lace sampler

Well, back as promised with some pineapple crochet for you. Although not as modern looking as the vessels, I wanted to go back to grassroots, so to speak, to get a feel of what crochet is all about and what aspects of it I can take forward into my work, especially stitches, structures, building up a form - drawing freehand with the thread. So I started with some simple pineapple doilies, working from the centre out using clusters and the pineapple stitch.

The pattern used for this sample is Vintage Crochet Pineapple Doily from the archives of Coats and Clark (- sadly this link has disappeared. I will post another if I can find one! If anyone has a new link, I'd love to know, ty) I've done some crochet pattern following a long time ago so it's not totally new to me but I needed to re-familiarise myself with crochet speak:) I began to realise that there is a bit of presumption in these older patterns - they expect you to know a certain amount already and there are small omissions in the pattern that must have been obvious to the designer - but not immediately to me!! So, I waded in, winging it a bit and I learned a lot just from making this little sample.

On the good side, I learned my tension is even and I managed an ok balance between yarn thickness and needle size so it shows up all the details of the lace when blocked, but I also learned that sometimes the pattern is right, even if you don't think it makes sense:))) Hence, this has no edged border as I dumped, as I thought, the unnecessary 3chain loop at the beginning of each new row along the side edges of the pineapple. My logic was good as far as it went - just not far seeing enough to predict what was needed for the next section!! Those extra 3 chains were designed to hold the lovely edging detail, which I now can't add - unless I fancy ripping it all back and starting again  - which I do not! So, lesson learned:)

Still, it's lovely anyway, and although it's not maybe fashionable to like traditional doilies these days, there is something fascinating about their structure - how they morph from one form into another using clever increases and decreases, changes of stitch pattern and the all important use of negative space with those lacy holes -  and there is a certain feeling of technical achievement as your work progresses and the pattern emerges. Very addictive! The real sense of achievement came for me when I was stretching out the lace to block - a real TA DA moment! All of a sudden, the pattern pulls out and you see, for the first time, how the pattern fits together and forms the intricate design that was intended - well, if you have done it right. I may also say, this is the time when you notice any mistakes - blocking lace isn't very forgiving of mistakes! But in this little sample, I was okay  - whew!

So now I have the lace crochet bug big time and I have been crocheting away on ever more complex patterns to see what else I can learn. It is interesting how the lace looks on different coloured backgrounds - the deep pink is a high contrast to the white but the soft pink of the blocking mat gives a much softer, delicate feel. I used some of my undyed sock yarn for this sample and it's a little bit woolly for showing up the crispness of the lacy detail so I've been using crochet cotton for the next few experiments - but more on that tomorrow;))

Happy making! elaine x